Gravity & Other Unreliable Things
by Represent
Summary: Danny has been keeping a secret from everyone ever since the incident. He's been able to hide it only through his bond with Sam and Tucker. However - after the trio is scattered across the country for their first year of college things fall apart and he's forced to tell them the truth about himself. A truth more terrifying than if he was just half-ghost.
1. Chapter 1

**Gravity & Other Unreliable Things**

* * *

_Summary:_ Danny has been keeping a secret from everyone ever since the incident. He has been able to hide it only through his bond with Sam and Tucker. However - after the trio is scattered across the country for their first year of college things fall apart and he's forced to tell them the truth about himself. A truth more terrifying than if he was just half-ghost.

_Warnings:_ Danny x Sam, and mentions of Tucker x Valerie. This story is a gentle AU. I've bent Danny's origin storyline a little. Also, in this story no one besides Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Vlad, and Danny's parents know about his powers. This is about one year after their high school graduation.

* * *

_Chapter One_

A gratuitous gaggle of phone calls interrupts someone's beauty sleep.

* * *

_Ring ring._

Ugh.

"...Hello?"

"Hi, Sam!"

"Do you have any idea what time it is, Jazz?"

"... Eight thirty?"

Sam rubbed her eyes furiously, shifting the phone in her hands. It was too fucking early to be speaking on the phone.

"Its too fucking early."

"Sorry - I can call back?"

"No, it's fine. What's up?"

"Just calling to check in." Jazz hummed from the other end of the line. Sam's eyes narrowed.

"Oh, really?" She asked, getting up out of her bed and pinching the cellphone in between her cheek and her shoulder as she rubbed sleep from her eyes.

"I hadn't heard from you in a while and-"

Sam rolled the crusts from her eyes around between two fingers.

"-just wanted to check in and-"

"If you want to talk to Danny you should probably call _him_." Sam snapped irritably. It was way too early in the morning to be talking to Jazz _Fenton_. It was much to early to be thinking about Danny Fenton. In fact, it was much to early - in Sam's opinion - to do much of anything other than hit snooze repeatedly and sink further and further into the recesses of her goose down comforter. She didn't even have class on Thursdays until noon and she usually slept in until eleven or eleven fifteen. She was a creature of the night. Apparently, Jazz Fenton was not.

"What happened?" Jazz asked after a long pause in which Sam could practically hear the gears whizzing around in the other girl's head.

"Nothing!" Sam's hand gesticulated wildly, even though Jazz could not see, "_Nothing_ happened!" It was almost entirely the truth.

"How come I don't believe that?"

"Because you psychoanalyze everything around you. That tends to be your-"

"Or maybe-" Jazz interrupted, "Because neither you nor Danny have returned any of my calls for over a week."

"Maybe its none of your business."

There was a long pause on the line before she heard Jazz heave a gigantic sigh. It was reminiscent of the way Mrs. Fenton used to sigh at Sam, Tucker, and Danny when they had gotten detention for the umpteenth time. A long winded _we'll-talk-about-this-later-young-man_ kind of sigh not. Not to be confused with the _I'm-very-disappointed-in-you sigh_, though the two were related. No, this was the kind of sigh that Sam suspected you had to get a lot of practice in to nail down the right amount of exasperation.

"I know it really isn't any of my business, but I'm really worried. About you and Danny."

"You mean Danny?"

"You're my friend, Sam. I'd like to think that we've gotten a lot closer over the past year."

Sam frowned, picking at her nails. The _Nebulous Abyss_ black of her painted nail was slightly chipped along the outermost ridge. She inspected it closely in front of her face. Of course Jazz was her friend. It was complicated.

"You're my friend Jazz." She admitted softly, "Of course you are. You just also happen to be my ex-boyfriend's big sister. Things are... complicated."

Jazz was quiet for a moment.

"Ex?" She questioned gently.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"How about I come visit you?" Jazz asked suddenly, "Maybe this weekend?"

"You don't have to drive all the way down here..." Sam started, "Really - its not a big deal."

"Saturday?"

"I have finals."

"Maybe-"

Sam stopped this train of thought before it even started.

"Even if you come here I still don't want to talk about it." Sam warned. She knew that Jazz would pry whatever she wanted out of her. And really, she was still stinging from the latest upheaval of her and Danny's relationship. Maybe Jazz would have some insight into how her idiot brother thought. Because Sam sure as hell didn't get it.

"I'm also not in the mood to host. Really, you shouldn't come. I'm no fun at all." She continued, "Besides. Its almost summer break. I'll see you in a few weeks anyways."

"...Fine." Jazz said from the end of the line before hanging up and that was that. Sam groaned, looking down at her phone.

Great.

For some reason this seemed backwards to Sam. Shouldn't Jazz be on Danny's side in this whole breakup ordeal? After all they were blood related. Then again, Jazz had always been a bit of a strange older sister. Sam brushed her hair absently, weighing the pros and cons of going back to sleep before realizing she wouldn't be able to anyways. Just the mention of Danny had her emotional. She frowned, sawing through a particularly rough knot at the mere thought of him.

Danny made no sense. Not that he had made sense before. Their relationship was defined by polarities, dotted by spectacularly fantastic fights and make ups. For the past few months things had gotten more turbulent than normal. Add to the equation that Danny was hundreds of miles away and... Sam sniffed for a moment. She was _not_ going to cry. She did not cry.

She had just thought that things would have been different. The three of them - Tucker, Danny and her - had been through so much. They had shared the weight of responsibility throughout high school. Everyone always said that college was different, but Sam hadn't really thought things would become so broken.

Jazz was living in Amity Park with Danny's parents, interning at North Mercy Hospital in the psyche ward during her final year of college. Soon she would be a full-fledged certified shrink. If anything the closer she got to completing her program the more nosy she got. She also got extremely more accurate in her readings of people.

Tucker was studying computer engineering at MIT in Cambridge.

Sam was in Washington DC, studying liberal studies.

And Danny was the furthest from them all. He had traveled all the way to Berkeley, California to study astrophysics at the University of California. He had originally planned to go to school closer to home, but miraculously had gotten an acceptance letter back from his hail mary of a college application. They had all been surprised. Not that Danny wasn't smart. He was brilliant, but the ghost hunting had pretty much decimated his GPA in high school. A mysterious benefactor had written Danny an eloquent letter of recommendation. It didn't hurt that this anonymous admirer was an alma mater of the University of California Berkeley. It had taken a whole five minutes to figure out the letter-writer had been Mr. Lancer.

And so - they were scattered across the country.

It hadn't been so bad at first. Tucker and Sam were close enough to drive and visit each other on weekends, and Danny visited home when he could. They would spend breaks together. The trip from California to Washington DC was difficult and so the first few quarters of freshman year Sam hadn't seen him very much.

However, about five months into being long distance Danny had suddenly appeared outside of her Women's and Gender Studies class.

She had been walking out of class, looking down at her notes when her physically attractive and stubbornly feminist roommate Jules had paused.

"Do you know that guy?" She had asked softly and Sam looked up to see Jules' pretty face frowning critically. Her violet eyes followed to see what poor boy was getting the brunt of Jules's 'stay-back-creep' stare before seeing a familiar quaff of brunette hair and baby blue eyes.

"Danny?"

He was there in three long strides. Sam had dropped her bag and let herself get enveloped in his hug, Danny's windswept hair tickling her cheek as she noted that he had grown a good inch since she had last seen him. And he had... scruff? It was becoming. She felt a blush start to creep across her cheeks at the thought.

She was certain that Jules was scrabbling around for her unhinged jaw. After all - she had only described Danny to her roommate. They were so long distance that he had never actually visited her campus or met any of her new friends.

"How in the hell did you get here - don't you have class?!" Sam had whispered, more like hissed at him, although she was not-so-secretly glad he was there.

And he had just pulled her in for a long dazzling icy kiss and then brought his lips close to her ear, making her shiver - she had forgotten how cold his breath, and touch, was.

"I jumped." He whispered conspiratorially, pulling back and giving Sam a wink.

"You - _what?_"

"Tell you about it later." He promised, "Want to get dinner?"

He had gotten a new power? Teleportation? Sam felt a thrill go through her at the thought of him being able to come visit whenever he wanted. She didn't realize the larger implications of what he was telling her, however.

"Aren't you going to introduce me?" He elbowed Sam gently.

Oh yeah- right.

"Danny - this is Jules, my roommate. Jules, this is my boyfriend."

"Danny." Danny gave her his best grin, shaking her hand before rubbing the back of his neck shyly.

That had been six months ago.

Sam shook her head a little at that realization. Already their first year of college was drawing to a close. In a week there would be finals and then she would be heading back to Amity to... She felt a sadness creep through her being at the realization that her best friend and her were no longer on speaking terms. The sadness melted into anger - frustration - because really, there was no reason why Danny and her should be anything other than friends - if not lovers. They had been through too much to not be in each other's lives anymore. If anything, it had felt like Danny had shoved her away from him. He had shoved everyone away. He had moved off to California and had left them all behind. It was so selfish. Sam, Tucker, and Jazz were the only ones that knew about his secret - that really knew_him_. Why would he just go off and leave?

She didn't understand it. She didn't know if she ever really would. She did know that summer break was going to be weird without going to the movies and playing video games and hunting ghosts until the wee hours of the morning.

* * *

Sam was halfway through her day, making her way to her three-o-clock history class when her phone vibrated again.

_...Ember, you will remember - Ember, one thing remains..._

"Tuck." Sam greeted, flicking it up as she paused along the main thoroughfare.

"Hey Sam." Tucker's voice resounded through speaker.

"What's up?"

"When is your last final next week?" Tucker asked. Sam could hear the sound of clacking keyboards and the mumble of voices in the background, "Because I was thinking that we could try and carpool or something. We don't both need our cars right?"

Sam frowned at the thought of having to be stuck in Tucker's beat up Datsun for two whole days it would take to get back to Amity Park.

"My last final is on Thursday." She told him.

"Great!" Sam could feel the force of Tucker's smile through the phone, "That work's out perfectly. Mine's Thursday night. Why don't I head over Friday morning, pick you up, and we head back together?"

Ever since Danny drifted away from them both Tucker and Sam had only grown closer. Not that they hadn't been close before. Their friendship had been something completely unique and strong in its own way. The two of them had a kind of bickering humor - a friendship that hadn't gotten tainted by romance or strained by relationships. It was still pure.

"Alright, fine." Sam relented, "But my hybrid would get better gas milage."

"I need to be able to drive to Valerie's and back over break."

Sam already had known this excuse was coming. She remembered that her response to this would have been '_Oh yeah? Well I have to use my hybrid to go over to Danny's too.'_ and which then Tucker would have replied _'Danny can just jump to your house. I need my Datsun.'_

Sam swallowed the lump in her throat. Tucker seemed to sense the way the conversation had soured and had accurately guessed the reason why.

"It'll be okay, Sam." He said softly. Sam knew that Tucker was hurt as well, in his own way, by how Danny had treated him lately. Although Sam was certain that Danny still talked to Tucker on the phone.

"Yeah, whatever. Let's just pollute the environment even more that in already is." Could she get through one full day without talking about Danny Fenton?

"Hey, my baby isn't that bad." Tucker joked, "Besides, I just tricked her out with a new stereo system."

Sam groaned internally. Great. Now she had to be stuck listening to Tucker's terrible music taste at fifty thousand decibels.

"See you Friday."

"Yup." She hung up.

She managed to get through the rest of her day without another interruption or memory of her ex. She spent the remaining hours of sunlight studying with her roommate in the grassy lawn near their apartment complex. The studying was a great distraction for the dread she felt in her stomach. Not for the first time she wished she had gotten an internship, a job, something, anything so that she didn't have to go back to Amity Park this summer. Besides Foley there was nothing there. Her parents - while getting along a little better now that she had her distance - were still a big pain in her ass. Her grandmother was living in a retirement home in the next town over. Most of the people she went to high school with she detested. There were no more ghosts to hunt now that the Fentons and closed their Fenton portal. Jazz was going to be poised ready to psychoanalyze her the minute she stepped across the border and always memories of Danny would be haunting her every footstep.

Jules looked up at her, smiling, before her smile faded at her roommate's gloomy mood. Not that Sam wasn't usually gloomy.

Jules Matthews was the same age as her, their birthdays were a mere fifteen days apart. She had long blonde hair and a slender frame that reminded Sam of Star. She was petite and pretty in a pointy way, but had a vulgar mouth and a fierce hot-headedness about her that scared off most suitors. Sam was still unsure if Jules was interested in men or women - or interested in anyone at all. She had never shown any real emotion other than disdain for anyone that had attempted romance upon her. However, she was a frighteningly protective friend and the best kind of study partner.

"First wave Feminism." She pointed a red painted nail down at her notes and then, with the air of a drill sergeant, pointed to Sam, "Go."

Sam recited the history dutifully, but her heart really wasn't in it.

"Hey." Jules said breathlessly, "I think we've done enough studying. Want to go get veggie wraps, some Charles Shaw, and binge watch Girls?"

God bless this woman, Sam thought to herself.

* * *

_Ring, ring._

Sam felt an extreme case of _deja vu_ settle over her. Only this morning there was a dull ache somewhere behind her eyes that only came with too many glasses of wine the night before.

She fumbled for her cellphone for a long moment, flipping it open, not bothering to look at the caller ID. The only people that would call her this early were her parents and one Jazz Fenton. And since Jazz had just called her not three days ago that meant it was just her parents.

"Seriously. It's too early. Call back in an hour." She mumbled into the phone, hanging up and putting it back on her bedside table.

She had just curled back into her covers with a long satisfactory sigh, closed her eyes and started to drift when...

_Ring, ring._

Ok. _Seriously._

She gritted her teeth and let the phone ring itself into silence. Perfect. No one would call back again after that. Certainly not her parents, although, Sam was certain she was in for a verbal lip-lashing later. She was fine with that. The bed was much to comfortable to abandon for another hour or two, at least.

_Ring, ring._

"Of course not." She groaned, answering the phone again, "What?" She snapped, not holding back the attitude. Maybe this would teach her mother to call at ten not eight.

"Don't hang up." Said a voice that was definitely not her mother's.

Sam froze, her heart pounded and she sunk weakly back into the bed.

"Danny?" She hissed, instantly feeling defensive. His voice was a little deeper than she had remembered, but it was recognizable, "I thought we were currently pretending each other doesn't exist." Her voice dripped in sarcasm, "Pretty sure that means you don't call me. And definitely not at eight in the morning."

"I know." He answered softly. He sounded unsure and almost... scared.

Good, thought Sam grumpily. He had some nerve.

"You have exactly one minute, no more, no less. Beginning now."

Sam tapped her fingers along her sheets.

"Right." Danny stated matter-of-factly, "I need to see you."

He paused, expecting a tantrum. Which, Sam happily obliged.

"What makes you think I want to see _you_? You have no right. You pushed me away, stopped coming over, said we needed to take a break... You ignore me for months, won't return any of my calls -" She was really laying it thick right now, feeling her throat get choked, "You - You _hurt my feelings _Daniel James Fenton_._" It felt like a vast understatement, but hopefully the sound of her fluttering heart was conveyed through the serious and deliberate use of his middle name.

"I know." Danny said weakly, "But-"

"I thought we were friends-"

"We _are_ friends. We're more than friends."

"Friends call friends back."

"I'm calling you back now."

"Oh, to what do I owe this great honor of your attention?"

"Please, Sam."

"It's been a minute." Actually, Sam wasn't entirely sure if it was a minute or not, but she was done listening to him, "Good night." Actually, it was technically good morning, but Sam felt was easily flustered by the sound of Danny's voice and in all dramatic movie scenes heated phone calls always ended with a curt Good _night,_ sir.

"Wait - Sam. Please." His voice broke, and she paused. She hesitantly placed the phone back to her ear just to hear his last remark.

"Please." He whispered, "Don't hang up."

Sam had never heard his voice sound like that.

"What's going on, Danny?"

"We need to talk. I need to see you."

"Why? Why now?"

"Because I miss you." Danny admitted.

Sam knew there was something else that he wasn't saying. She frowned severely. Danny sounded... a little unstable to be honest. He sounded.. distraught. Distraught was a good word for it. His tone of voice was enough to make her worried.

"I miss you too." She admitted softly after a long pause. She could hear his breath softly on the other line, waiting for her decision. Would she see him? Sam ran a hand down her face, almost gouging out her eyeballs. God dammit this boy made her so mad! How dare he just pirouette right back into her life. Well, he did sound pretty remorseful on the phone, maybe he did regret it... No, she had given him a second chance - and a third.

"Sam?" He asked unsurely, "_Please?_" It sounded nice to hear him beg her.

She lifted her eyes to her dorm room ceiling, her lips silently forming a tiny prayer to the crack along the far east corner.

"Fine." She breathed, "Coffee. We'll talk for thirty minutes. That's it."

"When?"

"In two hours." Sam glanced at the clock. Wasn't like she was going back to sleep anyways.

"Uh.." Danny mumbled.

"Is that inconvenient for you?" Sam snapped, irritated.

"No - no-" Sam could practically see him waving his hands on the other end of the line, see him rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "It's just that.. I'm flying in tomorrow morning."

"You're flying? Across the country?" She asked dryly, her eyebrow raising, clearly doubting Danny's physical endurance of flying all the way to D.C.

"Like, on a plane." Danny continued.

Two things hit Sam then. One: Danny wasn't just teleporting. Why would he spend unnecessary money when he could teleport? Two: He had already bought a plane ticket. He had been assuming she would say yes. She gritted her teeth and clenched her hand that wasn't holding her phone, giving it a small shake at Danny's disembodied voice.

"So, why are you taking a plane? Like peanuts that much?" She asked conversationally after a long moment of strangling Danny's invisible neck from hundreds of miles away.

"No. I just haven't jumped in a while. I'm rusty. See you tomorrow, then?"

She frowned as he expertly weaseled his way out of that line of questioning, but didn't care enough to press him. Really, she shouldn't care at all what Danny did. But she did. She cared. A lot.

"Right. Eleven. Don't be late."

"I won't."

Sam rolled her eyes and was about to hang up.

"Sam?"

"What? You're already way over your allotted minute, Fenton. I have plenty of other things to do besides talk to you." Her sarcasm was lacking in its normal bite. She had enjoyed talking with him - enjoyed knowing he was still alive somewhere over in California.

"Like sleep?" Sam could hear Danny's smile from through the line.

"Maybe."

"Thanks." His voice was quiet. He paused like he was going to say something more, before, "Sorry I woke you. Bye."

"Bye." Sam whispered, looking down at her phone.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2: Pouting, Partying & Puns_

* * *

_**Seven Months Ago**_

* * *

"Danny, you're being absolutely ridiculous. Stop whining to me and go have a good time. Go find Ryan and make new friends."

Sam could hear the soft soulless electronic music thudding from the other end of the line and the sound of muffled chatter.

"I don't need any new friends." Danny murmured petulantly, almost childlike. His voice was strange, "I need you."

"It can't be that bad." Sam continued. Danny loved to be overdramatic.

For heaven sakes it was a college house party that he was currently trying to complain about to her. A house party that, from the sound of it, he himself had agreed to go to. Not without a lot of persuading from his roommate, but still, Danny had agreed to go. Throughout high school Danny and Tucker whined about not getting invited to any of the parties and here he was at one finally and trying to find an excuse to leave. Really. He was in California. How could it be that bad?

"I'm picturing you complaining right now, lounging in swim trunks and sunglasses in a cabana next to a pool full of half naked girls popping Bacardi." Sam muttered.

She had pulled up the weather report. It was seventy five degrees and nine at night where Danny was. She looked outside at the rain pounding against her own window. It was forty three degrees, raining, and midnight where she was.

Danny snorted.

"Is that what you think my college is like?" He laughed a loud boisterous laugh. One that Sam rarely heard. It was warm and full and free and she found she couldn't help but smile. Danny quieted down after, his laugh petering out into breathless chuckles.

"Currently I'm in someone's bathroom. I had to go through someone's bedroom to get here. It was the only room without people in it - for now. There's a used razor in the bathtub, the curtain has a pattern of small anatomical drawings of all the sex positions, there's no toilet paper - its all on the floor, and I think there's vomit in the sink."

"Ok- stop. Gross." Sam shuddered at the matter-of-fact tone of Danny's voice, "You're hiding in a bathroom?"

"I'm not hiding."

"Sounds like you're hiding."

Danny gave a slow sigh.

"I can't believe Tucker and Jazz talked me into this." He muttered.

Sam raised an eyebrow. Tucker didn't surprise her. Tucker had been getting Danny to let loose all throughout high school and the first two months of college. The most Tucker had ever gotten Danny to drink was a few beers. But Jazz? Why did Jasmine tell Danny to go out and get soused at a college party? He wasn't even twenty-one. He was barely nineteen.

"This is terrible." Danny continued, "Everyone's so.." He struggled for the word, falling silent. The silence was lonely. His breath was uneven and heavy in the phone.

Sam felt like someone had slapped her in the face. Her eyes widened.

"Danny, are you _drunk?" _

"Wasn't that the whole point?" Danny asked brazenly.

Now that Sam was paying more attention, his voice sounded kind of funny. Deeper, and more... drawling. She rubbed the goosebumps on her arms. He almost sounded... sultry. Sam had no doubt he was doing it on purpose just to turn her on.

"Yes, Sam. I'm drunk. And not from anything as glamorous as Bacardi."

"Bacardi isn't glamorous." Sam chuckled, "So, since you're currently hiding in a bathroom I'll humor you. What are you drinking?"

There was a pause as if Danny himself had forgotten and a small sniffing noise. Sam pictured him, alone and disheveled in a foreign bathroom, red cup in hand, smelling the liquor.

"Captain Morgans with root beer?" He guessed, "I dunno, Ryan made it for me. Smells like vanilla and paint thinner. It was the only thing besides vodka. Its not _too_ terrible. Think I'm just going to get this over with and chug it."

"How many drinks have you had?" Sam prodded, unsure if Danny chugging a mix drink was the best idea. She could sense his shrug through the phone line. Great. She rolled her eyes. "Alright well..." She wasn't his mother. She restrained herself from trying to manage his drinking, although she couldn't help but be a little worried.

There was the sound of a cup being thrown into a trashcan before Danny gave a grossed out noise - meaning he had probably just plugged his nose and downed however many shots. He sounded absolutely miserable. He was probably the only nineteen year old boy that was this miserable in a house party in California.

"Tell me about the party." Sam prompted after a long moment.

"No- I want to hear _your_ voice." Danny said lowly, "What are you doing right now?"

Sam sighed, leaning back against the wall.

"I'm in bed, talking to my soused boyfriend." She began, hearing Danny's breath heavy in her ear, "It's raining outside. Jules is still in the library - she should be back any minute."

"You're in bed?" Danny repeated dumbly.

"Its midnight here, Danny." Sam reminded him, struggling to stay patient.

"Why aren't you - you know - out?"

"Because it's raining." She reminded him, again.

"Oh." He sounded lost for a moment. Clearly everything she had said after "I'm in bed" he had ignored. It was all Sam could do to not want to wrap her arms around him. Until...

"What are you wearing?" He whispered conspiratorially.

"Danny!" Sam said, shocked.

"Sorry! But really-"

"You _perv_. Fine, if you must know I'm wearing your old tee shirt." She grinned, plucking at the white tee with the red logo on it, "And my pajama bottoms. The ones with the bats on them." She paused for a long moment, grinning to herself, "And no bra." She added.

Danny gave a small muffled noise into the receiver.

"Sam, I miss you so much." His voice broke sadly, "Can I come over tonight?"

"I miss you too. But you can't come over. Jules would freak out and we'd have a hard time explaining how you just randomly showed up when you're supposed to be in California." Sam felt alarmed at the helplessness in his tone, "Are you okay?"

"'M fine. Just starting to regret chugging that drink." His voice was slightly slurred, lazy, "I just needed to hear your voice. I'm fine now."

"So, Danny. Why are you hiding in a bathroom?"

"Cause I had to talk to you." He breathed.

"Well, now that you've talked to me, are you going to go have a good time?"

"I dunno." He murmured, "I might just leave."

"Danny, at least attempt to meet some friends." Sam sighed in exasperation. But she knew him, she knew that he didn't trust people. No one in California knew about his powers, about what the three of them had been through. Not for the first time Sam felt a wave of anger at him for choosing to go all the way away from them and then call her at midnight to complain about it.

But she knew, deep down, why he had done it. Danny had set out to California was a suitcase full of things to prove to himself. To prove that he wasn't just Danny Phantom - that he could get a college degree, despite the grades he had gotten in High School. And above all - Sam knew that the one thing Danny ached to be above anything else was _normal_. Danny just wanted to be normal. Be a normal kid, go to a normal college. Get a normal degree and a normal job. Have normal friends, and let loose like a normal kid. It didn't sound like his plan was going very well.

"I'm trying." He gritted out, "I really am. I'm trying, but everyone here is so... free."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, confused. It was a strange word for him to use, considering Danny was the one with the ability to fly.

"Sam-" He asked suddenly as if realizing something important at that very moment. His voice was loud, "Did you know that I don't have a shadow?"

Sam blinked at the sudden tangent. Clearly Danny was pretty drunk at this point.

"Danny, I know you have a shadow." She almost laughed at him.

"Not right now I don't." He slurred at her, voice thick, "Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm actually y'know, _here._"

It was hard for Sam to pick out which parts of this Danny was being serious about, and which parts he was being overdramatic about. Danny loved to speak in metaphors and similes. They were usually poignant and very apt, easy to understand - abet easy to interpret in many ways, but the liquor had made them muddled.

"Although, right now I feel the most human I've felt in months." He confessed softly.

"That's good?" Sam guessed, unsure of how to handle depressive drunk Danny. For as long as she had known him this was the first time he had gotten properly wasted. At least, that she knew of. Tucker was going to have a field day with this when she told him Danny had chugged - _chugged!_ - rum.

"Its very good." Danny all but purred seriously back to her, "Thank you, Sam. Your voice is... like music. Sam- I have to tell you - I-"

Sam realized quite quickly that Danny was going to confess something important to her. And, although she wanted to know what it was, she didn't want him to regret telling her in the morning. So, she did the only thing she could think of to nip that train of thought in the bud.

"Oh how romantic, Danny." She teased lightly, trying to lighten his mood. It would do no good to hang up with Danny depressed in a bathroom at a random party. "I didn't know that my voice made your heart _sing_."

It was a lame pun, but she was tired and had pulled it out of her ass. Danny silenced, predictably. For a moment Sam wasn't sure if he was going to play along and take the bait. But of course he would, who was she kidding? This was Danny she was talking about.

"I know what you're trying to do, Sam." He murmured, "You're in a lot of _treble._"

"I'm just trying to talk you out of jumping off an emotional _clef._"

"Not-uh. I'm_ tuning_ you out."

"I'll take _note_ of it." Sam replied and smiled satisfactorily when Danny gave a sharp bark of laughter.

"Fine." He huffed, mirth in his voice, "I guess I'll go try and mingle."

"Good." Sam smiled, "Just be yourself."

Danny laughed a strangely dark laugh at that.

"I really care about you, you know?" He told her. It was this kind of heart-ripping open honesty that Sam loved.

"Yeah." She whispered.

"Good." He moved to hang up, before Sam yelled his name.

"What?" He murmured hopefully.

"Please just - be smart tonight, okay?" She let go of the lecture she had been trying to hold in this whole time, "Just, you know, like, be careful... or whatever. Call me if you need me."

"I always need you, Sam." He all but purred. Sam shivered in his t-shirt, tucking her nose into the red neckband and inhaling the leftover smell of Danny's cologne.

"You know what I mean."

"I don't know, do I?" Danny hummed, "Don't worry about me." And then his voice twisted. It sounded like he was trying to hold in a laugh. It was the tone of voice he only had right before he ripped a joke. "I'm sure this party won't be _tuba-_d"

Sam couldn't help but laugh, even after Danny had already hung up. She snuck back into her bed, replaying the conversation over and over again. Danny was always hard to figure out. She still was sure that there were parts of him that he hid from her. He was constantly juggling masks. Danny Phantom, Danny Fenton. Hero, teenager, son, student, boyfriend, human, ghost. Sam herself was dizzy trying to keep up with him. She knew that it must be exhausting. She wasn't stupid, she had noticed that his mood had been growing darker these past few months.

He would say things casually, things that people shouldn't say casually. And while Danny always had a rather twisted sense of humor - gallow's humor - most of these comments were about himself. They oftentimes sent Sam spinning trying to gather what he meant.

_"I don't have a shadow" "I needed to hear your voice." "I'm not sure if I'm actually here"_

Sam swallowed, turning over in her bed and placing her phone on, volume all the way up, next to her head.

It was about an hour later that she heard Jules pop open the door to their shared room and slink into bed, shutting off the lone lamp that had been waiting for her. The two of them soon fell asleep to the sound of each other's breathing. Sam didn't even realize when she had drifted off finally, thoughts of Danny playing beer pong wafting through her head.

* * *

Just when soft light started to drift into the dorm room Sam's phone sprang to life, making her nearly jump out of her skin. For a long second she stared dumbly at it before grabbing it to shut it up. Jules gave an annoyed groan from the far corner, rolling so her back was to Sam to try and block out the ringtone.

Who could be calling her at... five in the morning?

Oh- right. Sam held the phone up to her cheek.

"Danny?" She whispered, expecting a drunken love confession or something on the other side. She only got static and silence for about five seconds. Frowning she pulled the phone away from her ear and looked down at it "Unknown Number" lit the screen, the line still connected. "Hello? Who is this?"

Did the little shithead ass-dial her? Was this a wrong number that just happened to be at the wrong time? A prank call? She almost hung up on whoever it was, seething, when she heard the breathing. For some reason she shivered as a sense of wrong and dread filled her. Quickly she got out of the bed and put her slippers on, moving out of the bedroom and into the hallway.

"Who is this? Danny?" She asked again, this time a little louder.

"Sam." It was Danny's voice. But it was monotone and deep. Almost... emotionless.

"You're freaking me out, Danny." Sam admitted, trying to not let it show in her voice, keeping her tone low and calm, "Why aren't you using your phone? What's going on? Are you okay?"

"No." Came the matter-of-fact response.

Sam paused, blinking, heart pounding.

"Where are you?" She demanded. There was static again, silence, for a good minute and a half in which Sam felt herself getting more and more freaked. Danny really had a god damn knack for unnerving people. "If this is a joke, its not fucking funny." She told him, seriously, anger filling her - punching through her wall of fear. Still, dead silence.

Sam sunk along the wall and onto the floor as she listened to his labored breathing for a long time. All attempts to get him to speak to her met heavy oppressive silence.

"Danny..." Sam felt almost tears beginning to start in the corners of her eyes. She could do nothing to help him. She had no way to get to wherever he was. What if he was hurt? Or lost? Had Danny had too much to drink? Was he passed out somewhere on the side of the street? Where the _fuck_ was his roommate?! He was supposed to be looking out for him! She almost hung up on Danny to call Ryan, to try and get some answers, but she was too terrified she wouldn't be able to get ahold of him again. The number on her screen was a blocked number, untraceable.

"You're scaring me." She whispered. And for some reason this made Danny's breathing hitch. Almost like he had been asleep and had been shaken roughly awake. "Danny?" She asked sharply, raising her voice as she moved through her kitchen and out the front steps of her apartment, underneath the balcony where she was still protected from the rain.

"Where. Are. You?" She nearly yelled, "Fucking speak to me, you asshole!"

"I don't know."

Sam almost sobbed in relief that he responded to her.

"Okay. It's okay." She breathed.

"No, it's not okay." There was a bit more emotion in his voice now, a tinge of fear. He wasn't slurring, his words were sharp. They stung Sam with their honesty.

"What's around you?" Sam asked. Danny paused for a moment before responding.

"I'm fine." He sounded as if he was speaking to her while dreaming, "Don't worry. I'm just walking down the street. I needed to go for a walk."

"That's good." Sam sagged a bit, sitting in the porch chair, "I'm sitting outside." She offered him, remembering what he had told her before. _No- I want to hear your voice._

"But, it's.. raining?" Danny seemed to struggle to remember.

"Yes, but I'm underneath the awning." Sam told him, "Why do you need to take a walk?"

"So I don't do something I regret."

Sam felt a rock settle in her stomach at his forthright response. She could tell that Danny, despite being pretty articulate right now, was still very very drunk. He wouldn't normally be this honest with her, about anything. It took a good deal of tugging and pulling, like yanking a wisdom tooth out, before Danny even got close to looping her in on anything hard. She had expected 'Cause I keep throwing up' or 'To get fresh air' or 'Because the party was terrible'. Any of those would have been preferable to the dark answer he had given her. And really, what was she supposed to do with that? It was an honest, but veiled response. It was just like Danny. Honest, but full of half-truths and many masks.

"Okay." She didn't press him further, "Do you know where you are?" She asked, again, hoping that she could get some road signs out of Danny so she could call Ryan and get him to go find him.

She was met with more heavy silence.

"Danny?" Sam forced her voice to not sound panicked.

"I can't- I don't- I'm scared, Sam." Danny's voice sounded thin and quiet like he was holding his phone out a few feet from him while he spoke. The distance between them had never felt so terrible until this moment. Sam felt the tears start to fall down her cheeks. What could she do? Her mind raced. Tucker couldn't help them. Jazz couldn't help them. Danny was the only one that could help himself.

"Why are you scared?" Sam whispered, voice hitching.

"I'm coming to see you." Danny's voice drifted.

"No!" Sam started, the thought of Danny attempting to teleport while drunk was terrifying to her. What if he forgot his arm? Or his head? "Don't you dare."

"I _have_ to." His voice was resolute.

"Please, Danny. Do not jump. Do you hear me?" Sam breathed into her phone, clutching at it as if that would keep Danny rooted wherever he was. But, the phone was silent. She ripped it away from her ear and looked down at the screen. Call Ended blinked mockingly up at her.

* * *

_tbc..._

* * *

**AN: **Thank you for all the reviews! :) We're going to go back in time for a few chapters. So... this was supposed to be a pretty short story that has now turned into over eight chapters and counting. What am I doing?


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter Three: Hairline cracks under shaky foundations._

* * *

_**Still seven months ago.**_

* * *

Sam froze, phone still in hand underneath the awning.

The sound of rain pattered, pinging off of the metal roofing as she waited with baited breath for Danny to appear, praying to god that he had listened to her and had stayed wherever he was.

She dialed Danny's roommate's number, listening to the dial tone.

_What up. This is Ryan - I'm not here, obviously. Leave a message?_

Great.

She hung up and forced herself to sit back down, hardly realizing she had been standing. She felt helplessness creep into her as she shivered in the cold. The sky above her bleak. The sun would be coming up in an hour or so, but until then it remained dark and dismal despite the soft barely noticeable orange glow. It was caught, like a chameleon, mid-shift to morning. There was nothing she could do but wait for Danny. She felt like that's all she had been doing lately. Waiting. Waiting on Danny to come home.

After a few minutes passed she tried to dial back the number Danny had called her from, but got nothing.

There was a sudden bolt of lightening that crashed down in the distance, almost immediately the bone-rattling thunder followed. Sam felt her teeth jolt in her mouth like tic-tacs being shaken. The front porch of their apartment vibrated with the force of it. Great. The storm was only getting more and more violent. The fact that Danny hadn't materialized made Sam worried. The steel in his voice before he had hung up told her that he was going to try the jump, regardless of whether Sam wanted him to or not. Danny had never missed a jump before, but then again he had never attempted to jump while drunk. It took less than a second for him to make the leap. He should have been here already.

Sam remembered the first time he had successfully teleported across the country, leaning against the oak tree outside of her Women's Studies class with that cocky shit-eating grin on his face. She blinked. Of course! She was looking for him in the wrong spot. He would have jumped to the same place he had before, a place that he knew he could make it to.

Sam whirled inside and grabbed her boots from near the door and her rain jacket - ignoring that she was in nothing but Danny's old shirt and sleep bottoms. She tucked the bat patterned flannel pants into the boots and nicked Jules's umbrella from where it was leaning against the doorframe - still wet from use. She doubted that even that crack of thunder had awakened Jules. She could sleep through pretty much anything. It was a trait Sam was counting on.

Sam grabbed the keys and tucked them into her jacket pocket as another brilliant flash had her blinking green dots, followed by a soul-crushing cacophony seconds afterwards. She felt a pang of fear go through her at the thought of running across campus in this storm.

"C'mon, Manson." She told herself, shutting the door behind her, "Its just a little thunder. You've faced worse."

She opened the umbrella - the inside decorated with tiny little stars and the Milky Way galaxy. Danny would approve. If he was out there. Of course he was out there. He was fine. She would get him sober and give him a good verbal lashing about this in the morning. She could practically feel the lecture growing inside her.

With an intake of breath she ran down the stairs and into the night - her black rain jacket getting swallowed as the power flickered out from all around her and the street lights failed.

She felt blind, but had made this trek everyday for the past year. As she crossed the streets and passed the sign marking the beginnings of campus grounds her umbrella was nearly ripped from her frozen hands. She fought to keep it down, before she was forced to put it away before it was snapped in half by the unforgiving wind.

Teeth gritted she marched blindly in determination, swiping furiously at her eyes to try and get the water out of them, but rain was coming down in sheets. She might as well have stuck her face directly in front of a shower head and turned it on full blast. Did storms usually come about this abruptly here?

Her Women's Studies classroom was on the far opposite side of campus. It was adjacent to Samuel's Green, a small lawn where the volleyball club played during sunny days. After about ten minutes of half-running half-walking Sam saw the outline of the old oak in the distance as another clap of lightening struck down around her, the resulting thunder deafening. For a moment the tree's black outline was lit up like a beacon. Sam's eyes strained for that second to see if there was a person there - or anywhere. But the entire campus was strangely absent of all human life. She couldn't see him, but she broke out into a hopeful run, slinging the useless umbrella against her back, her clothes soaked through and through.

"Danny?" She called, her boots squelching in mud and soggy grass as she ran across the lawn.

Not the best place to be in a storm, she thought, considering this oak tree was taller than every building around it.

"Danny!?" She screamed again, the wind nearly swallowing her voice right out of her lungs before her shout ever had a chance.

She blinked furiously. He should be here. She felt her heart start to sink as she gazed around half-blindly. Then she noticed him. It was the faint glow that gave him away. She breast-stroked, feeling much like she was swimming through the rain, to get to him.

He was sitting against the tree in his ghostly form, expression blank. Sam knelt in front of him and took his cheeks into her trembling numb hands.

"H-Hey." She whispered in greeting as her teeth chattered.

"Hey." He smiled at her faintly, eyes sharpening with recognition.

She felt relief nearly level her. He looked fine. He had all his limbs, his head was attached, and there was no green ectoplasmic blood.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm good." He told her faintly, "I'm fine."

She reached around his shoulders and hugged him tightly into her, feeling his cold body freeze in shock before he hugged her back. His nose cautiously pressed into her wet hair.

"You're shaking." He noted dumbly.

"Duh." Sam said, "Its freezing. And you scared the shit out of me."

His hold on her tightened and she suddenly felt numb all over. Looking down she saw her body get enveloped by the strange fog that seemed to plague Danny Phantom's presence. Before she knew it her vision became a sea of vast never-ending grey. It happened whenever Danny turned her intangible. It was always uncomfortable. She felt almost like she was taking a joyride through death with him. She was in the passenger seat, but didn't know where Danny was taking her. Danny seemed to know she could only tolerate short moments of it. He let her go and she found herself dry, the water having fallen to the ground around them.

"Better?" He asked lightly, looking up at her with hopeful glowing green eyes.

"Yes." Sam said, half-lying. Her clothes were no longer wet, but the brief moment of intangibility and the chill of Danny's ghostly presence was enough to chill her far more effectively than the rain had. She gave another shiver from the lingering feeling of death and decay that seeped into her whenever Danny did that. The feeling quickly passed, though.

Sam grabbed her umbrella, pulling it open and shading the two of them from the rain. It had lessened somewhat, but Sam had no doubt that she would be soaking wet again by the time they made it back to her apartment. She stood then, grabbing Danny by the arm to hoist him up. He didn't seem nearly as drunk as she had thought he was going to be. In fact, there was only a faint draft of alcohol on his breath.

With a little effort Danny got his legs underneath him.

"You need to change back." Sam told him. Despite the fact that there was no one around she didn't want to take any chances. Danny practically thrummed with unnatural light and in the plunging darkness he almost shone, mirroring the moon on a clear night. Sam knew the last thing Danny wanted was to attract unwanted attention or to make a situation that would be difficult for Sam to talk herself out of.

Danny didn't seem to have heard her, his head lolling slightly onto her shoulder, eyes closed.

Okay, maybe he _was_ really drunk? She let him lean for a moment before he regained most of his footing. Sam looked down at the pair of them, looking for a shadow, but even with Danny's soft glow of ghostly energy there wasn't enough light outside to cast a shadow on either him or her.

"Alright." She straightened her umbrella, taking his hand in hers, "Let's get back inside."

Without getting struck by lightening or having the umbrella torn from her, Sam managed to get the two of them back to her apartment with minor incident. Danny had remained uncharacteristically silent throughout the journey. Despite the multitude of times Sam demanded he change back it wasn't until they were going up the front steps to her apartment that he obeyed her.

Sam understood the instant he changed back why he had been hesitant on doing so. His human body was much drunker than his ghostly one. With a few exceptions, Danny had remained alert and sure-footed on their return back from campus. However, after changing back he was leaning heavily into her, his tired blue eyes drooping heavily. Sam doubted he would remember much of this in the morning.

She laid him down on the couch for the moment, moving into the bedroom to try and plan how exactly she was going to house a drunk Danny for the night without Jules noticing. Their beds were tiny - barely a twin. There was no way the two of them would be able to sleep in one together comfortably. However, the beds were stilted, a good two or three feet off of the ground to make space for extra storage. Sam hadn't brought much stuff to college, so the space underneath her bed was empty. Perfect.

She looked over at Jules, seeing her still asleep. She would probably stay that way until eight in the morning, and it was five-thirty. Sam was surprised at the time, considering the adventure to go get Danny and bring him back had felt like it had taken hours.

Quietly Sam slunk around, grabbing extra pajamas and pulling the extra quilt off of her bed before stuffing it and a pillow underneath. Her bed skirt was black and ruffled, touching the ground, and would hide Danny, much like the Wizard of Oz hid beneath the curtain.

On her way back from the bedroom she grabbed a toothbrush and a towel. She brushed her own teeth and changed, pulling Danny's old shirt off of her and putting on a tank top. She folded the shirt, tucking it underneath her arm before cautiously moving back into the living room. Danny was exactly where she had left him. It looked like he had fallen asleep on the couch.

Sam sighed, sitting down next to him, taking him in for a long moment. She brushed back his damp hair off of his forehead, fingertips tracing along the troubled furrow of his brows - disturbed even in his sleep.

"Danny." She whispered softly, grabbing one of his shoulders and marveling at the muscle there that hadn't been there before. Danny was growing up, she realized. It had taken long enough, but he seemed to have hit puberty. He was in a plain dark grey pullover sweater and blue jeans. The jeans had somehow miraculously survived getting soaked, except for around cuffs, but his sweater was pretty wet.

She grabbed the towel, plopping it over his head and rubbed it into his hair to attempt to dry it some. He finally stirred, freezing, and grabbing her hand by her wrist, confused.

"I'm getting you dry." Sam told him calmly. She pulled the towel away and almost laughed at Danny - hair sticking up in random directions, blue eyes glazed over. He looked ridiculous.

"Sam." He told her, letting go of her wrist and gently pulling her into him, "Is this'a dream?" He asked her quietly.

"No." She told him. Fortunately or unfortunately no, depending on the moment. Sam was happy to see Danny, but circumstances were less than ideal. Sam's nose wrinkled at the strong smell of rum that was overpowering Danny's usual musky scent of cedar and sandalwood. She let him hold her for a long moment, reveling in the feeling of his arms. It had been a while since they had last seen each other. She sighed softly, before she undid his arms as she felt her pajamas starting to get damp from his sweater.

She grabbed his old shirt and turned back to him with a grin, preparing herself for the struggle of trying to get an uncoordinated Danny out of his sweater, but she paused at the look on his face and her smile fell off. Danny looked moments away from tears.

"Oh, Danny." She sighed, cupping his cheek with a hand, "Why are you so sad?"

Sam knew it was probably just the alcohol. She should have known that getting Danny blacked out could only result in tears. Despite attempting to be normal all of them had been through so much. Danny had saved the world, multiple times, and all before he had turned eighteen. He had gotten seriously injured and he had faced enemies far more evil and powerful than himself. He had even headed off to battle in the face of terrifyingly bleak odds with nothing but a promise to fall back on. He had always won, always came out of those situations with his cocky smart-ass comebacks and his unfading grin, but Sam knew that along with all that bravery came a lot of unbridled fear.

"I'm fine." He told her. It was an automatic response. Sam couldn't even count the number of times he had told her and Tucker that. It had started to lose its meaning.

"Ok, well, let's get you out of that sweater and into your shirt." Sam pressed forward. She would talk to him in the morning. Besides, she doubted he would remember much of this anyways.

He sloppily got his sweater up over his head and off, handing it over to her like an inmate getting checked in on his first day of prison. Sam almost laughed. Even soused Danny knew he was in trouble with her. He shouldn't have come over. He shouldn't have gotten this drunk. He shouldn't have freaked her out as much as he had. But he did and now she had to figure out how to deal with it.

"You're lucky you're so goddam cute right now." Sam grumbled. She pulled his old tee over his head and helped him thread his arms through it. He looked down at it, plucking at one of the many holes in it.

"It smells like you now." He slurred softly, pressing his nose into the collar much in the way Sam had done earlier.

"Thank god, cause you stink." Sam grinned.

Danny said something intelligible and moved to lay back down on the couch.

"Nope." Sam prodded him, "You can't stay out here. Jules is going to get up at eight and see you and freak out. You gotta come with me." She felt like a cattle dog, poking and prodding Danny to get up and then nipping at his heels to get him to keep moving down the hallway. He stumbled a few times, but managed to not make a ton of noise as she maneuvered him to the bed. He moved to get into it, but she grabbed his hands and tugged them down, pointing fervently to underneath the bed and lifting up the bedskirt.

"You sleep there." She whispered.

Danny didn't fight her. He was barely even awake, moving like he was sleepwalking, he simply phased and settled underneath her bed, passing out instantaneously the moment his head hit her pillow. Sam tucked his bare foot under where it was still sticking out from under the bedskirt. She straightened the skirt around a bit, standing back and looking down. There was no way Jules would notice him. He was entirely hidden.

Feeling a little proud of herself, Sam placed a glass of water and the toothbrush with toothpaste on it on the floor next to where Danny's head was. She considered putting a bucket there too, but it would seem to out of place. Jules might notice. She hoped Danny didn't get the spins. Though, he seemed to be down and out for a while.

She sighed, pulling herself into her bed and sinking into the duvet. Her mind spun, heart still racing from her late night rescue. She pressed her fingertips along the mattress, hardly believing that her boyfriend was stashed like contraband material underneath her. She felt a soft smile cross her lips at the thought of it.

She pressed her cheek into the pillow and closed her eyes. Despite all the questions and worries she had she fell asleep without a fight, exhaustion taking the reigns.

* * *

Sam woke to the feeling of loose arms around her waist and a nose pressed into her neck.

For a moment she was convinced she was at home in her large king-size bed with Danny pressed up against her. Then she opened her eyes.

She stiffened, taking in the dorm room. Jules was still asleep across the way. The storm had stopped, and the morning sunlight was pouring through the slits in the curtains. Jules's alarm clock read 7:49 in artificial red. Sam moved slightly to look back at Danny who had his head pressed up against her shoulder blades. His face was tranquil and he looked asleep, but when she twisted slightly in his loose grip his eyes fluttered open.

Without a word Sam spun slowly in his grip so they were facing each other. His breath was minty. He must have taken advantage of the toothbrush she had left for him last night. Together they barely fit on her twin bed, but he scooped her body into his, peering intently into her eyes. He should have stayed underneath the damn bed. Sam felt frustrated at the thought of Jules waking up in ten minutes to see Sam being spooned by her boyfriend who was _supposed_ to be in California. Sam had thought she would have started chewing him out by now, but she found his presence comforting, like a sedative, and before she knew it she was drifting again in a half-sleep, forehead pressed against his. Together they fell back into a lazy stupor before Jules' alarm went off and Sam stiffened.

"Hide." She hissed at him, but he was already phasing, sinking through the mattress and back underneath the bed. He grabbed her hand tightly at the last minute, pulling her through it as well and into his arms as suddenly Sam was looking up at the underside of the box spring. She really needed to dust more often under here, she noted.

Danny reached up and brushed some of her bangs out of her eyes as Sam's heart pounded, wondering what Jules's reaction to seeing her empty bed would be. Danny didn't seem to be too afraid of getting caught. Instead he was looking at her with barely restrained lust. He gently grabbed her by the back of the head and swooped in for a kiss, tightening his hold on her body as he pressed along her, his other hand getting lost somewhere along her inner thigh.

She felt a blush race across her cheeks and her breathing hitched.

There was the sound of Jules hitting her alarm clock off and groaning. The other bed shifted and there was a shadow of her feet as she moved about the room.

Danny deepened the kiss insistently and Sam was temporarily distracted, eyes fluttering as Danny pinned her against the carpet and the pillow she had put down here for him last night. His scent was thick and intoxicating. Her hands felt the hard planes of his back muscles shifting underneath his old shirt. It looked hilariously too small on him now. Danny lifted his hand up her tank top to her cup her bare breast, his pelvis grinding meaningfully into hers and she had to struggle to keep in the moan. His breathing was staggered, eyes glowing.

Jules's movements paused as she noticed Sam wasn't in her bed.

Danny's hands were rediscovering Sam's body as each time their kisses got more and more frantic, more serious. Their breathing muffled, but heavy, through their noses as they got lost in each feeling of the other's body pressed against theirs, undulating slowly. Danny let out a slow shaky breath as Sam spread her legs and locked them around his waist, his crotch pressed hot and heavily against hers. Sam's heart was pounding loudly in her throat as their tongues battled. Danny's fingers wickedly slipped underneath the elastic of her underwear...

"Sam?" Jules called out, unaware that her roommate was being felt up about three feet from her.

Sam was suddenly hit with exactly how wrong this was. She was about five seconds away from getting fingered while her roommate was in the same room. She pulled off of Danny's lips with a soft pop and pushed at his chest, shaking her head. He froze, eyes still half-lidded, before he frowned and made a small face at her, pleading, but she shook her head more seriously this time. Danny withdrew his fingers from her panties and moved to lie next to her instead of on top of her. He tugged her softly into him and placed a small kiss on the top of her head as they waited for Jules to leave the apartment.

It seemed to take forever.

She changed her outfit perhaps five different times, all the while humming softly to herself. Alone, her hair took thirty minutes of brushing and pinning before it was deemed presentable. After about an hour of prepping and primping, she finally left the room. The entire time Danny had remained patient, not speaking, barely breathing. Sam's cheek was pressed against his chest as she listened to his heart beating slowly.

There was the rustle around in the kitchen of breakfast before the slam of the front door.

"Finally." Danny murmured softly, "That only took a year."

"Great." Sam stated, "Now I have to come up with a lie for why I left the apartment early this morning."

"Sorry." He said wryly, "I couldn't stand not being able to touch you."

"You certainly are chipper this morning. I was kind of hoping you'd have a kicker of a hangover for what you put me through last night." Sam raised an eyebrow, looking up at him. He gave an embarrassed shrug, tightening his grip on her for a moment in some semblance of a hug.

"What happened?" He asked slowly, "Or do I even want to know?"

"Figures. You were piss ass drunk when I found you."

Danny hummed slowly. "Sorry." He mumbled into her shoulder.

"You don't remember anything?" She prodded.

He frowned, his gaze drifting back up from where it had settled on her breasts, fingertips pausing from where they had been brushing along her side.

"I remember calling you at the party. Drinking the rest of my drink. Going back to the party. Going home..." He trailed off, at a loss.

"You called me again at five, told me you were walking down a street somewhere." Sam turned to look at him seriously. Danny didn't look surprised at this. He nodded, not looking at her, running a hand through his completely wrecked hair.

"You said you didn't know where you were. And then you jumped over here. Nearly gave me a heart attack. I thought you were going to forget a limb or something."

"Then you stashed me under your bed?" Danny guessed, raising an eyebrow and looking at her, mirth shining in his eyes.

"Where else could I put you?" Sam grumbled, "You're welcome, by the way."

Danny laughed.

"No, you're brilliant Sam." He amended, "I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing at the idea of me hiding under your bed all night."

Danny was laughing like he was in on an inside joke that Sam wasn't party to. Sam felt a wave of confusion pass through her - why would that be so funny? - and she frowned, letting him take her cheeks into his hands and kiss her resolutely on the mouth. He pulled back, running his fingers through her hair before giving her a very serious look.

"I don't think alcohol and me mix very well." He told her.

"Well, I would say that the amount of alcohol you drank last night wouldn't mix well with _anyone._" Sam rolled her eyes. Although he didn't seem to be feeling any adverse effects. No headache, no nausea. In fact, his eyes were absurdly bright. They gleamed in the low light. Probably his goddamn healing abilities.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Danny said wryly, "That was pretty stupid, huh?"

"The stupidest."

"Is that even a word?"

"If it isn't, it is now." Sam said firmly, smiling despite herself.

Danny fell silent and Sam didn't try to break it, lounging in his arms as they gazed at each other for several minutes. Danny's grin faded after a moment as he took in a long shaky breath and Sam frowned, looking over at him. He was looking at her like one did an impossible puzzle. Defeated and weary. His expression was suddenly similar to the one he had last night - that same lost and forlorn one. The one that looked like he was seconds from tears. She could see the dark thoughts, turbulent, swirling behind his eyes.

"What are you thinking?" She wondered softly, rubbing her fingers along the crinkles in his suddenly heavy eyes.

"Can I ask you something, Sam?" He asked, voice suddenly low and serious. Sam felt her heart pound at the gravity of it as a chill spread through her.

"Anything." She whispered genuinely, certain he was going to confide something in her.

Danny nodded, biting his lip. He paused for a moment, before leaning closer to her.

"Why are we still hiding under your bed?"

Sam frowned, punching him in the shoulder with enough force to make him choke off his loud chortles.

"You asshole." She said, moving to roll out from under the bed. She winced, standing and blinking in the light of the room while Danny grunted and pulled himself with difficulty out from under the tiny bed. She heard his back pop and she turned to face him, seeing that he was taller than her by a few good inches now. He grabbed her from around the waist and pressed her back into her sheets, bending over her and smirking. The motion had been so quick that she hadn't had the time to notice his shadow - or his absence of one. His bright green eyes bore down into her own lilac ones as he, in one fluid motion, took her pajama pants off - a skill he had honed in the last few months of dating her.

"Now." He breathed, his voice husky, "Where were we?"

His hands skimmed down her sides and between her legs as he worshipped her like some kind of goddess, whispering her name reverently in her ear until she felt like she was on fire. There was a mischievous glint in his eye as Danny took off her black lace panties. He descended butterfly kisses upon her and Sam lost all coherent thought, sending a soft prayer up into the air.

Sam would think back on this moment for the next six months and analyze it over and over again.

Those two hours spent drunk on each other's company, of getting breakfast, of joking and skirting around discussing what had actually happened. Sam hadn't brought up the blocked number or asked why he had been scared, why he had nearly cried. She had assumed things were fine. Assumed he didn't remember. She spent the next six months regretting not pressing the matter. She spent the next six months wondering what had been the exact moment Danny had decided to cut her and everyone else off. Because those two hours they spent together that morning had been the last two before Danny had abruptly broken it off with her.

* * *

**AN:** Whoops. -fans face- I'll just leave this here...


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter Four: A presumptuous paranormal beau attempts reconciliation, and Sam has a not-so-terrible time._

* * *

Despite all of their grievances and their dizzying relationship, Danny was always true to his word. And as such, he wasn't late. He was sitting outside Sam's resident coffee shop with two coffees in hand.

It had been months since Sam had seen him last.

She took in all the changes critically as she moved over to where he was seated. California had tanned his skin. His hair was its usually unruly self - despite the fact that it looked like Danny had attempted to wrangle it with gel, but strands of it were falling out of place, only making him look even more dashing. He was an inch taller and wearing black pants and a loose white tee shirt that draped along his lean muscle. Sam frowned. How _dare_ he look this good.

When she got a few feet away he looked up, blinking at her. Green. His eyes were a glowing green - not blue. That caught her off guard for a moment.

"Sam." He greeted, standing up.

"Danny." As long as they were pointing out the obvious.

"You look great."

"Thanks." You too.

He pulled her chair out for her and Sam nearly winced at the stiff chivalry. Certainly things weren't this awkward between them?

"I take it black now." Sam mentioned, swirling the coffee around in the glass before taking a sip, "Ever since midterms last quarter."

"Right." Danny breathed, no doubt sensing the open hostility radiating off of her. For a moment he looked unsure as to how to proceed.

His eyes were blue. Sam frowned, wondering if she had mistaken them for green earlier. They were their normal blue now, and peering intently at her. She was suddenly glad she had spent the extra time to pick out a suitable outfit and put on her makeup with greater care than normal. Angry? Yes. She was angry at Danny, and strangely jealous of whatever had taken his attention away from her in the last six months.

However he was certainly giving her his undivided attention now. His eyes were tired. The look he was giving her was one that she often caught him giving her - as if he wasn't entirely there. Not quite the puppy-dog look he used to give Paulina, but related. It was something deeper though, there was a level of serious intensity to it. Almost... inhuman. It was almost like he wasn't looking at her. He was looking through her. After a moment he shook his head and cleared his throat, "It's good to see you."

"So." Sam placed her coffee down on the table, "Why the sudden interest in me again?" She was never one to beat around the bush.

Danny finally tore his gaze away from her, down at the table.

"I've _always_ been interested in you, Sam." He intoned quietly, his voice deep and troubled.

"Shut it, Fenton." Sam frowned, unwilling to deal with his bullshit, "I can't believe I'm even talking to you right now. So tell me, why are you here?"

"I already told you. I miss you. And regardless of if we are dating or not, I need my best friend. I came to apologize."

"You're the one that broke it off with me." Sam reminded, sipping her scalding hot coffee and letting it burn her taste buds. She gritted her teeth, rolling her tongue along the ridges, "You're the one that said _you_ needed space. I tried everything. I even almost boarded a plane to San Francisco to see you, but you shoved me away."

"Shit, Sam." Danny let out a sigh reminiscent of his sister's, "I don't know what I'm doing. These last few months have been hard - I thought breaking things off with you was the right answer. I was wrong. I'm so sorry."

"What does that even mean?" Sam snapped, frustrated.

Danny, predictably, quieted.

Sam paused, watching him curiously, checking his face for any sign of dishonesty. Most people that thought they knew Danny thought he was incapable of dishonesty, but Sam knew better. Danny was a remarkably adept liar when he wanted to be. But he had never lied to her. And he seemed to be heartfelt and... distraught. She had seen guilt on his face enough times to recognize it instantly. Didn't mean she wanted to forgive him, but it made the blow of their breakup sting a little less.

She had known something was up with Danny long before they had broken up. He had seemed off - prone to daydreaming. Not that he hadn't been this way before, but it had been significantly worse a month before he had ended it. Even now as they were sitting at this table she watched his eyes glaze a little, drifting away from her face and across the campus, scanning, looking. For what?

When he had broken away from her he had stopped calling Tucker as much. And, from the sound of it he had stopped calling home as well.

"So, what happened?" Sam asked bluntly. The question snapped him out of his daze and he refocused on her face.

"What?"

"I mean, why did you break up with me? Why did you stop visiting? Why did you stop returning my calls? Isn't that what this meeting is all about? You explaining yourself?"

"I did it to protect you."

Sam rolled her eyes at the typical Danny answer. It always somehow came down to this. When would he ever learn Sam didn't need or want his protection?

"I'm perfectly capable of defending myself. And, if you haven't noticed, ever since I've left Amity Park the rate of life-threatening ghost attacks has dramatically dipped."

"No - Sam." Danny said quietly, tapping his fingers along the outline of the ceramic cup. _Tap tap tap tap tap..._ "I needed to protect you from _myself._"

"What?" Sam asked deadpanned.

Danny said nothing for a long moment, before taking a small sip of his coffee. Distantly the sound chattering of students moving two and from across the adjacent lawn drifted across them, but it wasn't comforting to Sam. She frowned and peered at him again. He looked.. tired. But, he usually looked tired. In high school he had sported constant black bags under his eyes from his ghost fighting endeavors. But, this wasn't the same.

No, he looked like the kind of tired you felt when your bones were brittle and the sense of hopelessness had creeped into your very being. Ancient. It wasn't a feeling that came to pass - it was one that hung around like gum on the bottom of your shoe, no matter how hard you tried to shrug it off. She tried to bring herself not to care if Danny looked not quite all right. It wasn't her problem. It used to be her problem. She had liked when it had been _her_ problem, because it had meant she had been something to him. But, he had shoved her away. He had forcibly taken that card out of her hand.

"You don't get off just saying that and not explaining." She prompted.

"I know. Just- give me a second." Danny pinched the bridge of his nose for a long moment, "I had this all planned in my head."

Sam frowned, taking another sip of her coffee as she waited, her foot tapping along the hot cement. She pictured Danny pacing around on the white sand beaches of California, palm trees swaying the background, talking to himself as he usually did before he had to have a difficult conversation. Sam ignored the fact that Berkeley didn't really have white sand beaches.

"Danny." She warned after he made no further move.

"Alright." His fingers paused their drumming along his cup, "I think- At least.. I'm pretty sure... That... _I'm_ the reason for all the ghost attacks, not the portal."

His eyes flicked up from his cup seriously. There was a tinge of fear in them. Sam frowned.

"What are you talking about?" She immediately wanted to deny it. To tell Danny that he was wrong. She felt the words rush up out from somewhere near her gut and pound against the back of her throat, nearly making her gag with the effort to keep the door shut. After all, they had seen ghosts come out of the portal with their own eyes. They always threw the ghosts back into the portal, and thats where they kept escaping from. However, Danny had a guarded look in his eye that said he had been thinking along these lines for a while now. Probably months. Probably six months to be exact.

Sam shook her head for a moment, dislodging the idea firmly. Nope.

Danny frowned severely at her. He looked like he had been prepared for Sam to be angry at him, or scared - certainly not disbelieving.

"Listen. When did ghosts start attacking Amity Park?"

Sam felt that sinking feeling begin. Where Danny started asking hypothetical questions and made her feel like a child. She hated when he did this. Her eyes narrowed into little glinting needles and she folded her arms in front of her heart protectively. But, she played along with him.

"After you turned the portal on."

"And...?" There was a little twitch of his mouth curving into an amused smirk. Sam knew what he wanted to her say, but she didn't want to say it. Irritation flashed through her. Her first instinct was to slap him in the face and tell him he was wrong. It didn't make sense. But it did. Of course it did. In a weird way.

"...And after you became Danny Phantom." She whispered. Danny nodded solemnly.

"But that doesn't prove anything." She leaned back away from him.

"How many ghost attacks have there been in Amity Park since I left?" Danny asked softly.

"I don't know."

"C'mon Sam. I _know_ you still talk to my sister. She would have told you. Hell, she would have told me and I would have gone home."

"Fine." Sam admitted, "None. But that's because your parents promised to keep the portal locked up while you were away."

"I thought so too. For a while." The _'and then'_ hung in the air. Sam plucked it out from the space in front of them.

"And then?" Sam prompted. Knowing that despite all of what they had talked through so far, it still did nothing to prove - or to even implicate - that Danny was the true cause. Like he was a magnet. Because, really, how could a person become a link between the physical world and... whatever world the ghosts lived in. Not that Sam really knew much about paraphysics or multiple dimensions, but it still seemed farfetched even to her. Certainly Danny's parents - experts in their field - would have come to this conclusion after discovering Danny's condition far before any one of them.

"And then ghosts started attacking Berkeley." Danny stated seriously.

"What?" Sam frowned. It was the first she had heard of this. Worry flashed through her at the thought of Danny by himself all the way across the country. She squashed it down inside of her and shoved it into a distant corner of her mind. It wasn't her job to worry about Danny anymore. He had taken that away from her. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

Danny waved a hand distractedly.

"It was nothing I couldn't handle. But still, it made no sense to me."

"There could be a natural ghost portal. Maybe someone at the college even invented their own ghost portal."

"Ghost portals can't be made. There's only two portals that exist at this moment."

Sam's mouth dropped open. Had Danny lost his mind?

"What are you saying? You lived with one in your basement! You're own parents made it."

"Yes, but we never knew if it worked or not. Not for sure."

"It created _you. _Or, at least Danny_ Phantom. _Isn't that proof enough that it works?"

"It's only proof that it electrocuted me, killed me for about ten minutes, and then shocked me again, reviving me."

"And infused you with ectoplasm."

Danny shrugged, looking away from Sam for a long moment. She suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable. Like there was a huge vast chasm between them. Like there was something important that he hadn't told her - wouldn't tell her. At least not now anyways. She shivered suddenly as she felt his presence, like the night he had been zapped in the portal, drift across the table like a slow impending fog. Not for the first time she wondered if she truly knew him at all. Its weight and intensity was enough to make her uneasy. Danny turned to look at her as she felt a tremor run through her, his brows knitting together as if he could read her like an open book. He almost looked like he was... was he sniffing?

"Whatever it did - I became half dead, half alive. A walking paradox and the bridge between two worlds that should never have been connected. I became something that shouldn't exist... at least not naturally." Danny stated softly, apologetically. Suddenly Sam felt guilty for feeling so creeped out by him. It was just he gave off this _feeling_ that sometimes took her off guard. It was always stronger when Danny felt threatened, angry, or... sad.

"Don't say that." Sam mumbled, anger leaving her for a moment, but she knew it was true. There was a certain kind of... unnatural uncertainty that followed Danny wherever he went. Usually the feeling was masked. Danny hid it well from others except in moments of vulnerability, but still. Sam felt her heart ache at the implications of Danny's train of thought. He should exist. If anything his whole ordeal was her fault anyways. She had asked him to go inside. She had made a deal with him, that she would be there for him - no matter what - that they would figure it out together. But then he had gone off to California... She swallowed, changing the subject.

"So you think you're a living, walking, ghost portal?" She repeated.

Danny's gaze drifted away from her face for a long moment and she was unsure if he was listening. His eyes were glazed as he started to scan again. What was he doing? Looking for ghosts? She shifted, about to clear her throat, before his eyes snapped back to look into hers with such raw intensity it took her breath away. Green, glowing green again. There was no mistaking it this time. They were two pinpricks of neon acid.

"Yes." He answered shortly, succinctly, without any trace of doubt.

Sam was silent for a long moment.

"Think about it, Sam. Why did ghosts always, _always_, show up wherever I was? Why wouldn't they go terrorize someone else in town? Hell - why even stay in Amity Park? How come no matter how many times we put them back in the portal, the next day they showed up again? How did they always escape? How is it that all ghosts already know who I am before we've ever met?"

"Maybe because ghosts tell other ghosts about you when they're in the portal? Maybe because the ghost portal in your house tethered them, kept them on a leash so they can't leave Amity?"

"The ghost portal has no way to make ghosts manifest in-" Danny stumbled over his words for a moment, "the physical." He finished weakly.

Sam could feel them slip back into their bickering as easily as before. There really had been no time lost, she thought to herself.

"Danny, have you told your parents?" She snapped, the '_because we all know they're the experts' _was implied.

"It doesn't matter if I tell them or not, it doesn't make it any less true. Nor is it controllable. At least, I don't think it is."

"Maybe you should tell people these things, instead of just push everyone else away."

"It was the only thing I could think of."

"Why? We fought ghosts all through high school. Why does it matter if you're the reason they're there or the portal is the reason?"

"Yeah we fought ghosts through high school." Danny grated with a tinge of ire, "And you and Tucker nearly died - multiple times."

"Danny - we had an agreement. You don't lie about shit like this to me." Sam gritted her teeth, "Or have you forgotten?"

"Sam-" Danny shook his head lightly.

"Is this really the reason why you broke off from me? What were you afraid of? That if you kept seeing me ghosts would start attacking D.C.? Would that really have been so terrible? Besides, you have no proof."

"I have a lot of coincidences."

"Last time I checked coincidences weren't proof."

There was a moment of silence in which the pair of them glared at each other from across the table, hands clenched tightly around each other's coffee as if imagining it to be the other's neck. Sam wrung hers back and forth, her teeth grinding in her mouth. She hadn't ground her teeth in months. Not since the last time she had seen him.

"It can't be, Danny. How can you be a portal?" Sam said tiredly after a long moment. Really, if she was being honest with herself, Danny being a portal didn't bother her. But it was clear that it terrified him. He had always had a protective streak in him so large it overshadowed rational thought, especially when it came to her. She wasn't surprised at all to think that Danny would overreact about something like this. She frowned at the implications, that he would think that everything had, somehow, even if indirectly or unintentionally been his fault. That no matter what, Danny would never be able to escape from ghost hunting. That he was even more linked to ghosts than any of them had previously imagined. It didn't matter how far away he traveled, ghost hunting was ingrained - literally - in his DNA.

"How can I be both alive and dead?" He countered sharply, the anger in his voice rattled the air around them. The liquid in Sam's hand trembled and her coffee grew cold and she felt a thrill rush through her. She had forgotten the feeling of Danny's anger. It was enough to make her heart gallop wildly in her chest.

His gaze softened, green fading before baby blue eyes crinkling a little at the corners as he gave an exhausted sigh, the tension rushing out of him.

"Sorry. I'll get you another one." He looked down at his own coffee, which was now frozen solid. When his hands came off of the cup there was the soft pop and crackle of opening a freezer door. He rubbed his fingertips together to dust the ice off of the tips. Sam shivered, despite herself. Her tank top and jeans had been perfect for the almost-summer sun, but they did little to protect her against Danny's anger.

"It's fine." Sam stated stiffly, "Iced coffee is good too."

Danny shook his head at himself. Sam had never seen him lose control like that, not over... irritation. Sure, he had nearly shattered the windows during their biggest fights, but it usually took a lot to rile him up to the point of his powers leaking out without him meaning to. She shifted in her chair uncomfortably.

"Crazier things have happened." He continued, softly, "Crazier things than being a portal." He rubbed his chest, above his heart, where both his human core and his ghostly core resided.

Sam didn't argue against that, but still doubted what he was saying. But, if Danny was convinced Sam couldn't help but believe him.

"So, you thought you would just run away. You thought you would lie to all of us -to me- instead of trust us to believe you, to try and help you. You thought you would take away our choice in the matter entirely." She accused sharply. She didn't care if it hurt him. She wanted to hurt him, she realized, in a childish way. Because he had hurt her, by pushing her away and not giving her any sort of explanation, "Is that why you went to California? To get away from us? From everyone that loves you? Over _this?_"

His eyes hardened.

"I went to Berkeley because they have one of the best astrophysics programs in the country." He said evenly. His decision to move across the country had been one of their reoccurring arguments before their break up.

"Convenient that it's hundreds of miles away." Sam retorted, "What a _coincidence._"

Danny peered at her for a long moment, eyes calculating, inhaling a breath.

"I hurt you." He realized as he let the breath out. God, could he be this _stupid?_ She felt emotion fill her and her eyes start to water - no she would not cry.

"Of course you hurt me, you_ fucking asshole_. You stupid dense, obtuse, ignorant _boy!_" Sam nearly yelled. The force of the accusation caused several people to glance up from their books and their magazines, coffee halfway to open mouths to stare at the two of them in surprise.

Danny didn't tell her to shut up, though. If anything, he seemed unfazed by the outside attention. All his attention was, deliciously, on her - for the moment. Almost like he was enthralled by her anger. His eyes were wide and focused.

"And now you have the _audacity_ to just come back and ask if, after everything, we _can be friends again?_" Sam slammed her iced coffee onto the table, "Well, _Fenton_, maybe I don't want to be friends with you. Did it ever occur to you that maybe I don't want to see you? Ever again?"

Sam knew that this was her chance to dump the remaining coffee right into that handsome face of his. It was perhaps her only shining opportunity thus far in her life to reenact that kind of triumphant moment. She wondered briefly what kind of look he would have moments after the impact. How his freckles would look coated in the now cold sludge. Would it make her feel better? She knew, without a doubt, that it would make her day - hell, it would make her week. But this wasn't the movies and she still cared about him. They were inexplicably intertwined, despite her cutting words. She instead pushed the cup towards him and stood, spinning on the heels of her boots and storming off down the pathway. It seemed surreal that her own stubbornness and wounded pride would have her walking away from the very person she had longed so piteously to see for so many months.

She had made it a good fifty feet down the walkway before a cold hand grabbed her by the crook of her elbow.

"Sam - wait."

She spun, curling her hand into a fist, prepared to smash it right into his face - but it passed through. She almost fell when the force of the punch had met nothing but air, but Danny caught her, pulling her closer to himself.

"Fuck you." She hissed, "At least let me punch you in the nose. Give me a fair fight."

But the venom in her voice was dulled. She felt much of the anger wooshing out of her at the feeling of his hand against her skin.

"Okay, fine." Danny gave her a soft grin, "Punch me."

He let go of her arm and Sam felt it turn into a noodle, lying uselessly at her side. Her body betrayed her and she just stared at him blankly, all the fight gone.

His smile seemed to falter as he watched her, taking in her teary eyes and her dejected stance. He felt the sadness pouring off of her; it nearly bowled him over. He had done that. And he knew there was no way to ever make it up to her.

"I fucked up, didn't I?" He asked her.

Suddenly Sam's hand drew into a fist, as if his question had jolted her out of her depressive coma and she flung a perfect right hook smack into his face.

"Shit-" He stumbled back, pressing a hand against a region near-ish his nose and his eye. She had clocked him in the cheekbone. Despite everything she had screamed at him, she cared enough not to break his nose. His nose was nice and straight and even. Somehow it had remained intact even through all the ghost fighting and Dash pummeling. He seemed to realize that and looked at her oddly, dabbing for blood and finding nothing.

Still, it had been a rather impressive punch. Danny was certain he would have a black eye. Already his eye was swelling.

Sam glared at him, shaking her sore hand. He stared back at her. They were at a standoff.

Around them students looked at them strangely and walked around them, going about their business. The world kept turning. The two of them stared each other down.

Finally, Danny raised his hands up in front of his chest. It should be a sign of retreat, but Sam knew that Danny could easily blast her apart if he wanted to. But, of course he didn't want to. He shook his head to clear it a few times and she felt a tinge of guilt seeing a small cut where her ring had broken skin. Blood was blooming from underneath it and it was falling agonizingly slowly down Danny's cheek as if he were crying crimson.

"You're still wearing it?" Danny asked after a moment, shocked. There was a strange pleased note to the question.

Sam looked down at her hand, still clenched in a fist, class ring shining in the sunlight. Danny's glowing blood was flecked on the Casper High Raven's head. The beak actually - to be exact. She reached down and yanked it off.

"Been waiting to give it back." She muttered, not looking at him as she tossed it over.

"Sam.." Danny whispered, hurt and guilt mixing as he ran out of words to say and plucked the ring off of the grass.

Sam avoided his gaze.

"Friends don't give other friends class rings." She stated softly.

Danny was silent as he watched her, but she didn't leave. She finally looked up at him pointedly. Sometimes he could be so freaking dull. She watched the gears whirling around in his head, the confused look on his face. He had assumed she would have left by now, and this time he wouldn't have gone after her. But she stayed, and she was watching him expectantly.

"Friends don't give friends class rings." He repeated, realization dawning as he gave a small sad smile, hope flickering in his eyes.

"I missed you too, Danny." Sam whispered, "But I swear to god, I'm through with your hero bullshit. I'm through with all the lying. We are all supposed to be in this together. I promised you that night that I'd be there for you, no matter what, that we'd figure this out. I'm absolutely done dating you until you realize that, until you start trusting me enough to tell me what's going on."

"There's..." Danny paused, picking his words carefully, "A lot of things I need to tell you - and Tucker. Things I should have told you guys years ago."

"I'm still fucking pissed at you. Don't think that punch makes things even." Sam continued, her hands balling into fists again. Danny glanced down at them, as if expecting at least a few more punches. With a little bit of satisfaction Sam realized he would let her - if she wanted to. But, she had already damaged his face enough. For now.

"Rightfully so." Danny nodded, "I can't really make it up to you, but I'll try."

"I can't believe I'm even giving you another chance." She whispered to herself. From the look on Danny's face she could tell that he couldn't believe it either. But really, who was she kidding? Danny and her had been nearly inseparable since kindergarden. Despite the fact that their romantic endeavors almost always ended in spectacular emotional explosions, they were undoubtedly two halves to a whole. She hadn't even realized the hollowness she had been feeling - not until he was there to fill it up.

His hand moved to grab her's before he hesitated and thought better of it.

"Friends." He whispered, wanting to hear her say it in a non-cryptic way.

She nodded exhaustedly.

"You're going to be the death of me." She mumbled. She didn't notice the odd look that passed across his face at her words.

* * *

Jules spun in her chair as Sam and Danny moved through the front door of the apartment. Her long blond hair flowed around her and her smile was bright, expectant, before she noticed Danny's presence and it fell right off her face as quickly as a bowling ball fell from a sixty foot building.

"Hello." Her expression was guarded, but the waves of hostility were impossible to miss. Danny had to force himself not to gag at the sheer power of it. "Danny, isn't it? I didn't expect to see you here. Its been what - _six months?_"

Sam felt Danny shift awkwardly behind her. Jules affixed Sam with a very intense searching look, clear disapproval shining behind her brown eyes. Sam knew she was going to get a beat down later for this, but really, it was none of Jules's business if Danny and her were on semi-speaking terms again.

"Jules." Danny greeted politely, wisely knowing when to bow out.

"I was just going to the library." Jules said breezily, getting up and collecting her things, throwing them haphazardly into her backpack with enough force to break apart the bindings of the books. "I'll be gone for two hours." She gave a pointed look to Sam.

Sam internally groaned at the terribly veiled threat. Jules was like one of those small dogs that didn't quite realize their own size in comparison to others. Of course, Jules didn't even know the half of it. She had no clue what Danny was fully capable of. Sam winced as Jules pushed her way past Danny, bumping into him with her small shoulder. She stormed out of the apartment, the door giving a ominous rattle as it clashed shut.

"She's going to be mad at you for a very long time." Sam noted.

Danny was gazing at her, "I don't care." He intoned.

"She's my friend. My roommate. I live with her. You should care."

"Do you care?"

"Yes. I care."

"Okay. I care." Danny amended cheekily, giving a small smirk.

Sam rolled her eyes.

"So, when are you going back?" Sam moved across the apartment and into the kitchen. Danny followed her almost like a puppy. Sam opened the freezer and pulled out an icepack, wrapping it in a towel before passing it over to Danny who placed it on his rapidly swelling eye. This whole situation felt unreal to Sam. Here Danny was, in her kitchen in her apartment, with a swollen eye. After six months of ignoring her he had returned, and she had just let him waltz right back in with no repercussions. She really was stupid. Well, not exactly _no_ repercussions she noted with a weird sense of satisfaction, watching as Danny winced gingerly. At least she didn't hit like a wimp.

"I'm done with finals." He said distractedly, "I'm on my way home."

"On your way?" Sam asked, settling down into one of the barstools. Danny leaned against the counter. Sam watched as Danny picked out his words carefully before explaining himself.

"I'm actually stopping by Vlad's before I go back to Amity Park."

Sam felt her back stiffen at the casual way Danny mentioned seeing his archenemy.

"Vlad?" She felt alarm bells go off, "Why?"

"I need to ask him a few things." Danny shifted uncomfortably the way he often did when he was holding back vital information. Already, he was lying to her. Or at least omitting the truth.

"About you being a portal?" Sam guessed. Danny nodded tiredly.

Sam quickly thought through what he was saying.

"Because, if you're one, then he's one as well." She remembered what he had said before. That there were only two ghost portals in existence at this moment of time. Of course. Danny and Vlad, both two half-ghosts.

"But what good would that do you?" She frowned, "If you knew he was one or not?"

"It would help me better understand whats going on." Danny frowned, clearly not entirely happy with the idea of intentionally going to Vlad for help, "To regain more control over it. Maybe he already knows about it and has more information."

Danny's face was pale and he was silent for a long moment. Sam knew better than to interrupt this train of thought. She could see that Danny had something else he needed to say - something that was harder to say, but in the end he slumped.

"I have a lot more I need to explain to you - and to Tucker and Jazz. But it can wait until after we're all back home and together again."

"No more secrets, Danny." Sam reminded him, "Or else I'm done. I promise you that the next time I tell you I'm never seeing you again I'll mean it."

"I have no doubt." Danny smiled wryly, "I don't think I'll be able to survive another one of those right hooks."

"You should see my left hook." Sam grinned a grin fit for a vampire.

Danny shivered and couldn't help but believe her. Sam was a wonderfully scary woman. His eye pounded balefully at him.

"I actually need to take off. My flight leaves in a few hours." Danny took the compress off of his eye and Sam winced at the cut and the swollen skin underneath, "How do I look?" He grinned. She had missed his morbid sense of humor.

"You look like someone that got punched in the face."

"So, not so bad?" He laughed.

"Nah. Not too bad." She noted. Despite the black eye he was still dashing. Perhaps even more so because of the black eye. She was certain it would be gone by tomorrow anyway - what with the kid's healing abilities.

"I'm sorry, Sam." He sobered instantly, passing over the cold compress to her, "I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. That was the whole point of... the last six months. I promise I'll explain everything and answer all your questions when you get home."

"Keep it." Sam pushed the compress back into his hand, "You'll need it."

They both stood there awkwardly in the kitchen before Danny stepped forward, put the compress down on the table, and wrapped his arms around her. Not tightly, but his muscles were tense and impossible to try and fight. Sam knew that if she tried to push him off though, he would back off instantly. It wasn't a romantic hug at all, it was a_ I'm so glad that you're here_ kind of hug. There was a small ounce of desperation in it. She had known that Danny missed her, but he was almost trembling.

Sam closed her eyes and inhaled the scent of him. Despite herself she found her arms looping around his slim waist. Muscles that hadn't been as defined before he had left her last she could feel shifting underneath his soft tee shirt. He was tall enough that his nose was buried into the top of her head and she felt his lungs expand as he breathed her in. She felt the shiver run through him before he let her go and stepped away.

As she gazed up at him she saw his pupils contracted, swallowing his irises, which were a strange swirl of blue and green. She made a mental note to ask him about that. That and a billion other questions she had for him.

He picked up the compress and pressed it against his eye again.

"See you soon?" He asked, his voice hopeful, almost disbelieving that she was even speaking to him again.

"Yeah." Sam breathed, "But you have a _lot_ of explaining to do."

He nodded in agreement. Finally, Sam thought to herself, some answers.

And then she was showing him to the door, watching his retreating back walk down the across the paved avenue until he vanished. Her heart pounded in her chest as she stared at the spot he had been in. Had this entire day been a dream? How come she had agreed to befriend him yet again, after everything had happened? She still wanted answers, and the truth, if she was ever going to take his apology seriously.

Sam looked down at the white tan line where the class right once had been on her right hand - the only solid proof that the last five hours had actually transpired.

Despite everything, she felt elated. She rubbed the spot where the ring hand been over and over as she shut her door. Sure, Danny had disappeared from her life for months, he had hurt her feelings, but he had_ come back_. She had seen the honestly in him when he had apologized, how guilty he was. He was truly remorseful - and conflicted. He had wandered from them, but Sam couldn't help but accept him back into her life. After all - she didn't know any differently.

More importantly - she didn't want to know what life would be like without him in it. She had had a glimpse of it for sixth months and it had been utterly boring.

* * *

_tbd..._

* * *

**A/N:** Well, here's the first piece of the puzzle. ;-) Plenty of more to come.


	5. Interlude One

_Interlude One: A soul shatters and Danny discovers the in-between._

* * *

_Danny. About five years ago. The night of the accident._

* * *

"-Anny?"

"Tucker, he's not breathing."

_My head._

"Oh god."

"Is he-?"

"DANNY?!"

"-can't be-"

_My body._

"His heart's stopped."

"Danny? Danny can you hear me?"

"Move over, Sam."

_My chest._

Slowly awareness, like a flickering candle, begins in the back of my mind. It moves from the base of my neck down my spine. I'm suddenly extremely aware that I hurt - everywhere. I'm aware that someone - Tucker - is only making the agony worse. His hands are pumping down into my chest hard enough to bruise ribs. What the hell is he doing? What happened to me?

Was he giving me CPR? The idea of Tucker knowing anything about CPR was almost enough to make me laugh. I was pretty sure that we had both failed that practical exam in Health not three weeks ago.

"C'mon, Danny."

Sam's voice, I recognize dully. I feel her urgency wash through me as if it was my own. Why is she afraid?

"Call an ambulance."

"-Might be too late."

"Don't _say that!" _Sam's voice, thick with emotion.

I feel my nose get obstructed. I realize dimly that this feeling of suffocation should be uncomfortable, but I'm suddenly aware that I'm no longer breathing anyways. In fact, my heart is no longer beating in my chest. I know that I should be panicked at that realization but instead I'm just tired.

Fingers scrabble around my mouth, forcing it open. It is that moment when I frown and give my head a small shake.

There's a surprised gasp and as I open my eyes I see Tucker only inches away from my mouth. I flinch back - _was he going to kiss me?_ - before suddenly he is knocked out of the way and Sam's face fills my vision. Her eyes are wide and terrified, tears running down her cheeks, warm hands fluttered along my face.

"Danny?" There's a strange trepidation in her tone.

I blink several times, trying to clear my head. I feel like I've been hit by a truck. Every muscle in my body is unbearably sore. There's blood in my mouth where my own teeth had bitten into my cheeks. My teeth grit against the pain as I try to lift my broken body, but Sam presses a strong hand to my chest and I'm too weak to struggle against it.

"Danny - say something."

"How are you..?" Tucker trails off, the same strange fear and unease rolls off him in waves. I take in a breath, feeling the emotions run through me.

"What happened?" I croak.

Sam's fingers are scrabbling again at my neck, pressing along for the artery, but I knew she was going through the motions and not actually taking my pulse since my artery was on the other side. Never-the-less, my heart is once again beating, but when it started I couldn't be sure. I took in another shaky breath.

"The portal." Tucker supplies from my left, "You got electrocuted. You've been out for about ten minutes."

Right. I remembered everything up until that point. I remembered having Sam and Tucker over for the first time. Of giving them a tour of the house. I remembered knowing that only weird shit would impress Sam and I had wanted to impress her, so, of course, I did the only thing my fourteen year old mind could think of - I lead them into my parent's basement lab. I remembered slapping my hand against the portal and telling them what it was designed to do - not that it worked. Not that any of the weird shit in the lab ever worked. I remembered the sweet smile on Sam's face as she dared me - _dared me!_ - to go inside and turn it on. I definitely wasn't brave, but I didn't back down from a dare - especially when it was coming from a cute girl. Besides, it hadn't taken a lot of bravery to slip inside a portal that didn't work.

I glance down at the hazmat suit, only to see I was no longer wearing it. I'm in my shirt and jeans.

"You were burned..." Tucker trails off, his young face unnaturally pale.

"Was?" I ask.

Sam helps me sit up, her hand shaking against my back.

"You were... How do you feel?'

Strange. Uneasy. Fuzzy. I blinked slowly, looking down at my hands. They were perfectly fine. I had been burned, but I had healed? In ten minutes? I didn't feel burned - or hot. I was freezing...

I felt my gaze slip and Sam's hand grab my arm. Something felt off about me. I was cold - extremely cold. My body couldn't stop shivering. Tucker and Sam's definition faded, the world became fuzzy - sound was muffled. In fact.. I gazed blankly forward, the basement had faded like an old photograph and unravelled. Wisps of smoke clung from the walls and windows. I was spinning. No - I was upside down. We were sitting on the ceiling. Only it wasn't a ceiling it was technically the floor, but it was where the ceiling should be.

Tucker and Sam were merely smoky outlines on either side of me, pulsating with brilliant light. They had no face. In fact, they had no real body. Their fear, however, was palpable, it ran through me like a current. There was a consistent ringing noise, and everything seemed unreal. This had happened to me before - right before I had fainted in PE after Dash had punted a soccer ball to my head. Only, it had felt more like someone slowly turning down the lights while I spun and simultaneously had someone screaming in my ear. Also- that time I didn't feel this cold gnawing dread curling up in my stomach.

"Maybe...call...ambulance...parents..." Tucker's voice drifted, sounding like a bad transmission radio, static cutting out every other word, "He's...shock..."

Ambulance. The word sent a chill through my body and the world snapped back into focus, righting itself. I shook my head to clear it several times, watching as the world spun back around and Sam and Tucker's pale faces came out of the smoke.

"No ambulance." I managed out.

I felt the fear in the room nearly triple and my eyes shot open. Both Sam and Tucker were staring at my hand. I glanced down at it to, but it looked the same as always.

"What?" I asked, "Help me up. I need to get to my room. I need to lay down."

"Dude..." Tucker said weakly.

"You have to go to the hospital, Danny." Sam grabbed onto my arm again, "Your heart wasn't beating, you weren't _breathing."_

Something deep inside me knew I couldn't go to the hospital.

"No." I refused.

"Tucker."

"Got it."

My eyes darted to the PDA as I watched Tucker start to type. Nine...

"Stop." I pleaded, my voice weak.

"We have to-"

_"Stop,_ Tucker."

"Danny, please just let him-."

"Don't!"

One...

I panicked.

Then I felt a surge of _something_. I felt like I had been flipped. In fact, the world itself was flipped - again. Inverted. We were hanging from the ceiling but Sam and Tucker didn't seem to notice. The entire motion of it felt like someone had grabbed ahold of the tablecloth of reality and yanked it out from underneath me. Everything was the same, but just ever so slightly misplaced and I was still disoriented from the sudden jarring motion. There was a roaring noise in the back of my head, the ringing turned to a rushing sound and I felt power - foreign power - flow through me the same way the electricity had only minutes before. It slammed in my chest and I flinched, feeling my heart flutter before stilling, and like a wave breaking through a dam it was freed.

"STOP!" I wailed at their wispy forms. It sounded like a million screaming voices, echoing around the room infinitely. I saw the world shift like a double exposed negative around me, a strange black and white and grey film over the top of the basement that I knew, shuddering at the force of my shout. Distantly things were shattering. My voice was warped and twisted.

I was terrified. No - they were terrified. It was hard to distinguish between all three of us, their own emotion only served to amplify mine. The same dread and unease grew like thick molasses around us. The two of them were bright beacons of terror. My eyes slipped half closed and my mind suddenly grew still and silent.

I felt _good_. I couldn't control it. I didn't _want_ to control it.

"-anny! STOP!"

"Oh my god."

I sniffed, spinning to face them. I was floating, but that didn't really bother me at the moment. I reached out for one of them, inhaling the fear off of their forms, feeling it crackle, electric, through me. I wanted part of them, part of their humanity - to be real again. I needed the world to right itself again, to be grounded. They were the key.

I felt my own body start to disintegrate, becoming nebulous. My arm stretched out again, fingers sharp like claws, a dark shadow that curved along the floor - or ceiling - towards _her_ shape, pulling her aura towards me with a deep inhale.

The boy was murmuring at me, pleading, putting his body in between mine and the girl's. It didn't matter though. I knew instinctively that I could pass right through him if I wanted to. And I wanted to.

There was a sudden shrill piercing scream. It flew into my core. Until somewhere far in the back of my mind I dimly connected that it was Sam. Sam was screaming. At me.

Suddenly I sucked in a breath and bit my lip hard enough to taste blood, feeling my heart break back into a galloping rhythm. The world unceremoniously dumped itself back upright and I moved to lean heavily into Sam. Only Sam was no longer there and I pitched sideways onto the floor, my chest heaving. The room was freezing. My ragged breath crystalized in front of me in small clouds. There was frost across the broken glass that was scattered around the floor.

The lights above us were flickering on and off, dimmed. Outside rain was pelting against the window and there was an ominous rumble of thunder. I looked across the floor to see shattered remains of beakers and science equipment, the shards were still vibrating - humming. The entire room was oppressive. Everything rattled with dark energy. That roaring noise was still there, although it had retreated to dull into a whine in the back of my skull.

"Danny?" Tucker was the first to say something.

Sam and Tucker were wide eyed- clutching onto each other, backed against the wall. They were horrified. I could smell it. It smelled tangy - like blood. I felt the thread of panic begin again in the pit of my stomach as I breathed heavily. What was going on? I had no idea what was going on, how to fix it, how to stop it. I knew I had scared them. Had I hurt them? Had I hurt Sam?

"Danny, calm down." Tucker whispered lowly, "Its okay."

I dimly realized he was speaking to me like one would a rabid dog. My eyes flicked to his white face. He was afraid, of _me_.

"Calm down. I'm not calling the ambulance. Hear me? No ambulance. Look, see?" He held up his PDA before turning it off and sliding it across the floor away from himself like one would a gun in a hostage situation.

I felt the tension start to flood out of me. The room started to feel breathable again, the light's flickering ceased. Tucker looked up as the fluorescent bulb popped back on overhead. The sudden onslaught of light made all the glass and frost shimmer. It was almost pretty if you ignored how it had gotten there.

"That's right." Tucker coaxed soothingly, "Just breathe, buddy." He unwrapped his hands from where they had been protectively shielding Sam. Why had he been protecting Sam?

"It's going to be okay. We'll just get you back to your room."

Yes. That's what I wanted. My room, my bed. Away from the portal, from the thing that had just hurt me.

I nodded, pushing myself up off of the floor. I felt considerably better than I had felt upon waking.

I didn't notice how the lights flicked back on. How the room grew considerably warmer and the window outside grew bright as once again there was a slice of blue sky and sun. I did notice, however, how the roaring noise had faded. I noticed the tears running down Sam's face. The way Tucker flinched as I stood completely upright.

"I-I don't-" I didn't know how to explain what had happened, "I- I'm sorry." I did, however, know I was responsible, "I need to lay down."

Tucker grabbed my arm, but his eyes were guarded, wary. He held me tightly, but kept me at a distance as we picked our way through the broken glass and to the stairs. I paused.

"Sam?" I whispered.

"Give me a moment." She said. Her voice was tiny - frail. I barely heard it. I felt a icicle of guilt drop down my throat and into my chest. I nodded, before moving - with help - up the staircase.

"What happened." I asked Tucker softly, once I had gotten to my room. I had regained most of my strength, enough to allow Tucker to let go of me as he untucked my bed.

"Y-you were.." Tucker trailed off, shaking his head. He seemed to catch himself, "We'll talk about it tomorrow. Don't worry about it right now."

"But I made Sam cry." I frowned, "I couldn't help it - I don't know what happened."

"She'll be okay."

I shook my head, uncertain.

"Tuck-" I began weakly, "I need to know what's going on."

I tasted the sudden wave of anxiety that came off of him. I blinked, inhaling it.

"I promise. I'm not going to... going to freak out."

Tucker looked at me like he wasn't so sure.

"You were dead." Sam's voice rang out from the doorway. We both looked up at her. She had cleared the tears off of her cheeks and had straightened her skirt. Despite her strong voice, I could feel that she was still shaken and wary of me.

"Your heart wasn't beating for a full ten minutes." She continued, stepping inside of my room, but lingering by the door. She looked ready to bolt at a moments notice.

"Sam-" Tucker started, but she held up her hand.

"You came out changed. Your hair was white. You were..." She struggled to find the word, "Different."

I looked over at the mirror in front of the bed. I had dark brunette hair, blue eyes. Despite looking pale, I was myself. However, as I stared at my own reflection I saw a flash of something else. My eyes shifted, I was seeing double. I had four eyes, two blue, two green. I blinked a few times. Blue - two eyes that were both blue. My head must still be rattled from the shock.

"I tried to grab you, but you went through my fingers." Her voice was trembling now and she wrapped her arms around herself, "The room was freezing. Everything felt wrong..." She trailed off, staring blankly.

"Through your fingers?" I asked weakly, "That's impossible."

There was a long silence in which everyone had nothing to say, before Tucker sensed that Sam was done for the moment and picked up where she left off.

"You collapsed, there was a flash of bright light, then you were yourself again. But you weren't breathing. Your heart had stopped. You were.. badly burned."

"I'm fine." I breathed, finding myself not really lying.

"You _weren't_ fine." Sam whispered, a tinge of suspicion in her voice.

I didn't know what to say for a long moment. She was shaken still, staring at me warily.

"Sam- I'm sorry." I started. I wish I could take back what had happened in the basement, take away the fear in her eyes.

"No- I'm sorry." She took a quick breathe in, shaking her head, "I shouldn't have dared you to go in there. This is all my fault."

"You look okay now..." Tucker mumbled, bending over to peer in my eyes.

Sam looked as if she was about to say something else before the front door slammed shut below, making us all wince.

"Your parents."

"What do we tell them?"

* * *

In the end the three of us told my parents that I had been zapped. That I was fine, that there had been an accident. Despite feeling physically okay, something was something deeply wrong with me. I convinced Sam and Tucker that everything was going to be okay. In the end they had left me in my room - the uneasiness fading from their eyes. They seemed to believe me. Or they wanted to believe me.

I didn't realize that something significant had been ripped from me, replaced with a much darker and dangerous part of myself that I had yet to truly discover.

It was the first time I had outrightly lied to my parents. It had also been the first time I had outrightly lied to Sam and Tucker. I had never lied to them before because I'd never had a reason to, but, I remembered their faces down in the basement. I knew they had been seconds from running, from abandoning me. I would have never believed it true if I had not seen the tears running down Sam's face myself. I know I had put them there, but I hadn't meant it. It didn't really matter though. Intention is easy to explain if you could explain what had happened. As it was I had no explanation for what had happened. And that was terrifying in its own right.

"You _do_ look kinda peaky."

I jumped, looking up from where I had been staring at the opposing wall in my room. Jazz was leaning on my door, a soft frown on her face. I didn't know how long she had been standing there, but she had the same sort of unease in her face that Sam and Tucker had.

"Getting shocked might do that to you." I gritted sarcastically.

She shifted a bit.

"Mom wants to know if you can join us for dinner."

"No thank you." I wasn't hungry. In fact, eating didn't sound appealing at all. Instead I could smell the worry rolling off of Jazz like a fog. I closed my eyes, breathing her scent in.

"O-Okay." Jazz mumbled, "I'll bring you up something later."

She left down the stairs and I leaned back against my bed. My eyes drooped as my thoughts churned around. What was wrong with me? The soft noise of silverware hitting plates faded. I lost track of time, not realizing when I had fallen asleep. I was vaguely aware of a soft knock at the door - Jazz - bringing me food - but it meant nothing to me. The noise of my family getting ready for bed. The feeling of my mother's soft hand on my forehead, an extra blanket getting placed over my shivering form, a light switch clicking off, before my door closed for the night.

Or until eleven.

I jolted upright, finding myself sitting on my ceiling. Or- in my bed - which was inverted and hanging off of my ceiling.

I have to give myself some credit here - I didn't scream.

Instead I looked out the window, seeing that the ground and the sky had switched. Everything was pale and sapped of life and color. My entire room was in shades of dull grey.

I squinted, feeling very much like I was looking through the windshield of a fogged up car. Nothing was defined and everything seemed to have the implication that they weren't truly solid. The form of the wall and the table wavered. I was convinced I was dreaming.

Slowly I moved - glided - out of the bed and to the mirror. Only, I wasn't in the mirror.

I blinked. My entire room was reflected in the mirror - except for me. I felt a flicker of fear rush through me and my heart should have been pounding but - I realized as I pressed my hand to my chest - it was silent.

"I died." That was the only explanation. "I just died in my sleep."

My hand clenched against my chest at the realization.

"Don't panic." I told myself, my voice echoing strangely around the room, reverberating and continuing endlessly as if I was speaking into a never-ending cavern. I had the sudden inexplicable urge to yodel. I must be in shock. A strange disturbed giggle fell from my lips and bounced endlessly around the room before peetering out.

I turned my hands out in front of myself, seeing white gloves. I was back in the hazmat suit. Only the colors were inverted, much like this world was. And, I noted with almost delight, I was hovering a few inches off of the ground.

_"You came out changed. Your hair was white."_

I reached up to my head and pulled out a piece of hair, spinning the pearlescent strands in my fingers as I examined them. They seemed to glow with their own unearthly light for a few seconds, before, as I let them fall the light petered out and they fizzled like smoke and dissipated. Sam and Tucker had seen this. Whatever _this_ was. But I had changed back. Did that mean there was still hope? That I wasn't actually dead?

A sudden rumble sounded from outside - a storm starting to brew.

"Calm down." I told myself, clutching my arms around my middle. "Change back."

I suddenly felt like I wasn't alone.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I huddled back on my bed, staring at my mirror where my shape should be. I was suddenly terrified of myself - and of the others that I knew were lurking in this world. I knew that technically I was still in my room, but I had slipped somehow through a seam. I was stuck in a place in-between, a mirrored copy of the real world, and I had no clue how to go back. My actions had consequences on people in the real world, but I could move through this world against all laws of physics.

And for some reason I could feel in my gut that I wasn't alone in this space. There were plenty of others, weaker lesser spirits that were drifting. I could see them faintly through the window. They were barely there wisps that were actively avoiding me. But, I could feel one above all - a dangerous beacon of surprise and curiosity. It felt like at any moment this thing would be sniffing the back of my head. I knew my presence was being detected and that I had to change back, quickly. Something was coming for me. Something else far more dangerous than myself was coming for me.

The rushing noise that always seemed to accompany this space honed and suddenly turned into a steadily intensifying high pitch whine. I covered my ears, screwing my eyes shut, head pounding.

"I can change back." I whispered to myself, my voice sounded unsure, but I had to believe it. I knew I had to believe it or it would never work.

"Change back, change back." I breathed, mouthed, terrified of making too much noise. But it didn't matter. Noise meant nothing in this realm. All that mattered was emotions - auras - life force - humanity. And I could almost see my own glow pulsing around me, giving me away. My chanting echoed, pinging off the walls and morphing mockingly. My own voice cruelly laughed back at me to_ change back changebackchangeback._

"Heart - start beating." I ordered, pressing my hand against my ribs.

It remained still in my chest. Rain pelted against the window pane, flying upwards out of the reversed sky. I punched my chest, watching with wide eyes as my fist glowed with strange energy, the power igniting in response to my own panic and I gave a yelp, shoving them away from my body and watching as I accidentally blasted a hole in the dresser.

I focused, taking shuddering breathes. The thing's presence was coming closer. It's vibrations were trickling through the room like cautious probing fingertips. I had to leave. _Now._

"I'm alive. I know I'm alive.." I thought of the feeling of my own feet rooted firmly against the ground. Of lying against the bed and with a surprised noise I found my body obeying me, no longer floating aimlessly, but instead rooted along the bed - of course everything was still upside down, but I took this as a small victory.

I tried to remember how I had felt in this room before I had woken up in this other reality. The warmth of my mother's hand against my cheek. Her love. Of Jazz distantly knocking on my door - the smell of dinner wafting from downstairs. My family. Of Sam's steady hand on my arm, her worried face close to mine. Her lips.

Suddenly I felt a hot and heavy thrum from in my ribcage, my heart thudding back into rhythm. My stale breath was knocked out of my lungs as the world pitched right side up and, like a damper being removed, the color and the life flooded back. The sound of the rain became more pronounced, louder, sharper than it had been. I felt a sudden uncomfortable sting travel from my chest along my limbs and I watched as my body switched back. I was in my pajamas again, sitting on a bed that was no longer on the ceiling.

Freezing, I shivered in my covers, stunned, and watched the rain pour dramatically against the window - mirroring my turbulent emotions. My eyes wide staring at my own reflection across the way, making sure I was still there, still alive. My hand pressed against my chest as my heart told me every second that it was still beating.

I didn't sleep the rest of the night. I couldn't even if I wanted to.

* * *

The next morning consisted of me convincing my mother I didn't have to see a doctor, forcing down cereal even though chewing the food made me feel like gagging, and planning what I was going to tell Sam and Tucker when they inevitably came over with questions after school, of which I was not attending.

"You don't feel warm..." Mom hummed to herself, placing her hand on my forehead for the umpteenth time, "If anything you're freezing."

I didn't feel freezing. Probably because she had subjected me to a mountain of blankets. In fact, I felt normal-ish. Much more normal than I had last night. I sighed, clicking through the channels on the television as she went to make me some tea.

"Sudden bizarre shifts in weather patterns have puzzled meteorologists..."

I paused, watching the news for a moment.

I hadn't stayed home from school sick in over three years. Honestly, I was more than a little bummed to break my streak, but I was still extremely shaken after what had happened last night. I was hoping it was all a nightmare, but... I watched as the remote fell into my lap, my hand turning grey and numb before vanishing completely.

"Here you are, honey."

I jumped and hid my intangible hand underneath the blanket before my mom could see.

"You can put it down on the table. Thanks!" I squeaked.

She gave me a look before leaving the cup behind.

"I'm going to go clean up downstairs. Call if you need anything."

"Yup."

I sighed when she left, pulling out my hand again. It was there. That was a relief. I was attempting to take all of this in stride. Maybe the shock had made my brain go a little haywire. Maybe I was just having psychotic episodes. Sadly, this seemed like a positive solution to why I was suddenly losing my limbs for no reason.

I reached over and grabbed my laptop, pulling it closer to me and booting up the browser. For a moment I paused, unsure of what to search, my fingers tapped along the keys before I shrugged and typed "Electrocution" into the search field. My eyes scanned the results.

_Electrocution is death by electric shock._

I frowned, deleting the term before putting in, "Electrical injury, symptoms, survivor". I clicked onto the wiki article. I knew that somewhere Lancer was yelling at me that it wasn't a valid source but, whatever.

_Large currents can cause fibrillation of the heart and damage to tissue._

I scrolled down, swallowing my revulsion at the pictures of the burns. Sam and Tucker had claimed I had been burned, but, as I looked at my upturned hands, I didn't feel burned anywhere.

_Current can cause interference with nervous control, especially over the heart and lungs. Repeated or severe electric shock which does not lead to death has been shown to cause neuropathy. Recent research has found that functional differences in neural activation during spatial working memory and -_

I closed the laptop, leaning back against the couch, feeling a flash of a memory race through me. Pain, convulsions, paralysis. I pressed my fist into my chest for a long moment as my heart fluttered underneath and I grimaced, unable to breathe. I froze, hunched, for a long moment until the feeling passed. That explained why I hadn't been breathing, or why my heart had stopped beating. But it didn't explain anything else. Could electrocution cause loss of form, change in genetic makeup, unexplained weather patterns that correlated to mood, and intangibility?

I opened my laptop back up and scrolled to the top of the article. _Electrocution is death by electric shock._ I remembered Sam's words from last night. _You were dead._

Could I have actually died? Was I dead right now? What explained intangibility, lack of a heart beat, change in genetic makeup...? My eyes flicked to the stairs to the basement where my mother was cleaning up the broken remains of all her ghost hunting weapons. Could it be that they weren't as crazy as I had thought? Were ghosts real? Was I a ghost?

I rubbed my chest where my hand was still pressed against my heart. Despite brief moments of uncomfortable fluttering, it was pounding along healthily.

"Ghosts aren't real. And even if they were they certainly don't have heartbeats." I told myself, but I didn't sound so sure. My heart was proving to not be as reliable as I would have hoped. Just last night it had stopped. Or had that been a dream? I knew deep down that something in me had changed. There was a darker presence in the back of my mind. Power that I did not understand - that I didn't even want to acknowledge, that I now possessed. I know Sam and Tucker had seen it first hand last night.

Whatever I was, I certainly couldn't be classified as fully human anymore.

And so, when my mother came back up the stairs and sat down next to me on the couch I started to prod her gently for information. She leaned back against the couch and gently pulled me into her lap. Any other day I would have complained and batted her away but I had almost died - or I had died? - last night and it was just the two of us. I remembered the way the memory of her had restarted my heart last night when I had been trapped in the inverted world. Suddenly maternal affection didn't feel like something to escape.

She brushed my hair back from my face absently.

"You're still freezing."

I shrugged. She tucked me in firmer and pulled me against her. She felt like she was on fire compared to me so I assumed she was right.

"You kids really did a number down there." She mumbled softly, "Even one of the windows is broken."

"Sorry." I mumbled, actually feeling bad. After all, it had all been my fault.

"I'm just glad you're okay. You _are_ okay right?"

I nodded, pressing my cheek against her, not making eye contact as I stared with feigned interest at the TV. A commercial for Saturday morning cartoons was playing. A kid that could bring back the dead was pleading with his family and friends. His best friend - a zombie - was tied to a stake. Animated townspeople thrust up sticks and fire. I wondered how they had made something so morbid into a kid's cartoon.

"I still think we should go get you checked out... That portal is hooked up to a lot of amps..."

"I'm fine."

She gave a suffering sigh. The kind of sigh that all mother's must learn when their son becomes a teenager. I wondered if they took a class together.

I ran my tongue along where I had bitten the inside of my mouth. My entire body felt like it had been in a massive car accident. I knew that all my muscles had probably seized for a good minute and a half in the portal. Despite being ridiculously sore and having a few sores on the inside of my mouth I was otherwise fine. I knew that technically I had been burned, but somehow I had healed almost instantaneously. My eyes drifted as I speculated just telling my mother. I wondered if she would think I was crazy. _Hey, mom? I think I died last night. But don't worry part of me came back. I just can go into an alternate dimension where physics doesn't exist now. Oh - and I made it rain last night. Sorry about that, but we were in a drought right? So I guess you're welcome?_

She threaded her fingers through my hair and scratched my scalp lightly. She used to do this with me when I was younger. When I still took naps against her during the day. Before I had become a teenager who wanted nothing to do with his mother. I felt my eyes begin to droop as the comforting scent of her perfume hung between the two of us. Her chest moved in and out slowly with my head lying across it, fingers idly combing.

"Hey mom?" I asked after a long moment, preparing myself. I should tell her. She was my mother. She would believe me, right? Or she would just cart me off to the hospital...? I frowned at that thought and decided not to tell her. Not yet, anyways.

"Yes, Danny?"

"What kind of powers do ghosts have again?"

I could feel her surprise. Her fingers paused against my scalp.

"We really don't know the full extent. We've never actually seen one. Why do you ask?"

"No reason. Just curious."

There was a moment of silence again before I broke it.

"How come you think there's ghosts even though you haven't ever seen one?"

"Oh they're there." She had no doubt in her voice, "We pick them up all the time on our instruments."

"Where are there a lot of ghosts? The cemetery?"

"No, places you wouldn't expect." She smiled at my sudden interest in her vocation. I had spent all of my life pretending my parents were scientists - not ghost hunters. "The mall, the park.. Actually there's a lot of ghosts at your school, honey."

I grew uncomfortable at that revelation.

"But don't worry. Ghosts exist in a separate plane from humans. The cannot step into our world, they don't have a body by which to do so. They live in a shadow of our world. That's why we've never seen one. They are trapped there - in between here and ... there. Wherever 'there' is."

"So, why do you hunt them if they can't enter our world?" I asked.

"Because, while they can't physically harm us, they feed off of human emotions."

I felt as if I had been struck with electricity for a second time.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Why all the sudden interest?" Mom frowned, pushing away from me for a second when she heard the sudden anxiety in my question.

"I'm writing a paper." I lied. Inside I winced. Definitely not my smoothest lie.

She raised an elegant eyebrow dubiously.

"I am!" I hunched my shoulders defensively, committing to it, "And you're the expert so..."

"Well, ghosts are really just pieces of a soul that was left behind. They are driven by obsession to their old habits and way of life. The one thing they desire most of all is to be human again, and so, they feed off the human soul to feel alive again."

"What if a ghost could manifest itself physically?" I ventured hesitantly.

"Then it wouldn't be a ghost, now would it?" She smiled.

"No, I guess not." I said, disappointed at the answer. Or lack of one.

"Now. It's almost time for my soap opera." She reached and grabbed the remote from the table, pausing when she saw the full cup of tea still sitting there, cold.

"Great. Time for my nap." I droned.

And with as much dignity as a teenager could muster up I cuddled into the warmth of my mother and drifted - not quite asleep, not quite awake - to the soothing noise of daytime television.

* * *

I was woken up by the sound of a sharp knock at the front door. I blinked a few times, realizing that my mother was gone and I was alone under a mound of blankets on the couch. For a moment I was confused as to why I was here, before I realized I must have fallen asleep without meaning to. I had, after all, spent the majority of last night counting my own heartbeat and staring at my own reflection in horror.

"- asleep right now. I'll let him know you guys came to see him."

I frowned.

"I'm awake." I called, pushing myself up off of the couch. I could see Sam's head poke from the outside the doorframe.

"Danny!" She greeted. I felt a sense of relief that she appeared to be glad I was alive still.

My mother stepped aside to let Tucker and Sam through. They were looking at me warily, sizing me up already as they stepped across the hall and into the living room.

"How are you feeling?" Tucker asked.

"Better. How was school?"

"Boring. I have your homework." Sam rooted around in her backpack.

"Let's go upstairs."

I got up stiffly from the couch, wincing at my sore muscles before we moved to my room. I shut the door and locked it softly, then sat on my bed. I wasn't sure how much they had seen the night before. I wasn't sure what I was capable of, what I had done. I wasn't even sure of what I was anymore. I wondered how much I was willing to fill them in on without scaring them away from me forever.

Sam's comforting presence lulled me into some kind of stupor. However it wasn't in the way that it had the previous night. I didn't want to grab her and drain her. Instead her own aura rippled along across the bed, calming me considerably like a balm. She felt like the safety of a old warm quilt. Her scent was heavy and sweet. Sam snapped her finger in my face and I blinked, not realizing I had been staring at her.

"Hello?" She frowned. I hadn't noticed I had been dazing.

"Sorry."

"We need to talk." She sighed, "I was going to wait a few days, but you seem okay."

"You shouldn't be okay, though." Tucker supplied, "No offense, but you should be dead."

"What if I am?" I joked.

Both of them were silent for a long moment.

"That's not funny Danny." Sam snapped.

"Yeah you seem pretty alive to me." Tucker poked my arm.

"Last night..." Sam trailed off, "What do you remember?"

"Not much." I lied, yet again, "What happened?"

"You don't remember anything... strange?" Tucker prodded.

I shrugged.

Tucker and Sam exchanged a look. A look that said they had already talked over how what they had seen, and had tried to rationalize it. They had already debriefed on how to handle me. I felt a surge of irritation rush through me.

"Look, you can just tell me." I muttered darkly. My lamp flickered for a moment and Sam paled. I took a deep breath and forcibly calmed myself.

"After you woke up some pretty strange stuff happened." Tucker ventured, "When you shouted all the glass shattered..."

"The random storm.." Sam listed.

"... The ice..."

"You went right through my fingers..."

"Danny." Tucker looked at me seriously, "Are you like.. you know... a ghost?"

A few days ago a question like that would have made me laugh. Instead I merely rolled my head back against the wall behind me and looked up at the ceiling.

"I-" I struggled for a moment, frowning before looking back at him, the weight of my gaze made Tucker shift uncomfortably, "I don't know."

"What do you mean?" Sam whispered.

"I mean, I think I died. I know I died. But I came back." I shrugged, unable to explain it, "At least - some part of me came back."

I reached my hands out in front of myself before pressing a palm to my heart, feeling it thudding along reliably in my chest.

"Part of you?" Tucker prompted, "Like you're half ghost or something?"

I shook my head, unsure.

"I didn't believe ghosts existed..." I mumbled to myself. But then again this whole ordeal had me questioning a lot of things that I had been pretty sure I had right. Gravity- for instance. Laws of physics. Solid matter. My own heartbeat. The existence of another dimension or world that I could feel - even now - humming alongside all of us.

"I didn't either." Sam said, "Until last night."

"Ghosts can't manifest physically. And I'm alive right now. I'm sitting in this bed." I lowered my voice a little to make sure no one could overhear. Moving to reach around Sam, I grabbed my cellphone from the nightstand and tossed it in the air, before letting it hit my palm with a very solid pop. A demonstration of my own not-ghost-like properties. My mother's voice drifted through my head._ What if a ghost could manifest itself physically? Then it wouldn't be a ghost, now would it?_

Sam looked at me suspiciously and I rolled my eyes, grabbing her hand in mine. I felt a stab of hurt flood through me when she flinched before I pressed her hand against my chest. She frowned as she felt my heartbeat.

"Your hands are freezing." She whispered, "But you're heart is going."

I felt an urge to pull her close to me, to press my nose into her hair. To hold her, protect her, covet her. I blinked, squashing it, not knowing where it had come from. I had never felt that way about Sam before. I was only fourteen. But this heady feeling felt like something different than teenage hormones.

"I'm not going to hurt you." I murmured softly, truthfully, before adding, "Not intentionally."

Sam didn't look at me for a long moment.

"I'm not afraid of you. I'm just so sorry I even asked you to go in there. You could have- You almost..." She slumped a bit. I could smell that she was lying though, there was still an undercurrent of unease that was wafting off of her. Tucker, less so. Probably because I hadn't outrightly gone after Tucker last night.

"Did anything weird happen today?" Tucker asked.

"My hand disappeared." I smiled nonchalantly.

"What?!" They both yelped.

"It didn't hurt or anything." I looked down at my hands, "It just tingled and went cold and then it was gone. But not really gone, just, not visible... or tangible. The remote went right through it."

"Can you do it again?" Sam asked eagerly. I smiled at the pulses of curiosity that had quickly overtaken her previous fear.

"Don't sound so excited." I muttered, "Its really inconvenient. Not to mention I don't know how."

"Can you make it rain?" Tucker asked, "Freeze things?"

"No, and no... at least not intentionally."

"What about the whole lights turning off thing you did last night?"

I shrugged helplessly.

"Truthfully, guys? I don't know what's going on." I tried to keep my voice level, but there was a small tremor in it that gave away just how unsettled I saw, "I'm a little freaked out."

Sam's warm hand reached out and rested on mine and I blinked, looking up at her.

"We'll figure it out, together." She smiled reassuringly, "I promise."

I wish I shared her optimism.

"Yeah. Maybe you can learn how to control these powers." Tucker chimed in, "You could be, like... a superhero."

Tucker's eyes were bright, no longer afraid. Instead convinced that this was a good thing. He was grinning at me, sizing me up. Probably taking note of my complete lack of muscle or scruff.

"You read to many comics." I rolled my eyes, "Pretty sure being dead makes me a villain, not a hero."

"Half-dead." Tucker smiled, "All hero."

"We're going to need to work on that tagline." I snorted.

The three of us laughed and grinned at each other. Things felt easy again.

I decided in that moment to not tell them. About the world in-between that I had found myself trapped in last night. I wouldn't tell him how I could practically smell the waves of emotion coming off of both of them. Or the way that I was inexplicably drawn to them, to their vitality, their life. That somehow I knew I was taking small pieces of it for myself, to sustain myself, because I wasn't completely alive - not anymore.

Sam and Tucker leaned into hug me around my shoulders and I breathed in their determination and loyalty. I would do everything I could to keep things this way. To protect them.

No, I wouldn't tell them. At least, not yet. I could get it under control, whatever _it_ was. I _had_ to control it. It was my burden to bear.

Despite being sandwiched between my two best friends I felt a pang of loneliness at the thought.

* * *

_tbc..._

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks for the reviews guys! :D The next chapter might take me a little bit as I'm still writing it. Hopefully the length of this one makes up for it. Eep! Well here's a lotta answers for you guys. I have two more interludes, both from Danny's POV, and both memories from high school to pepper throughout this fic. This chapter was actually supposed to be the first chapter, but ehhhhh I'm indecisive.


	6. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5: How many pieces of a car can you replace before its no longer the same car?_

* * *

"...No one man should have all that power, the clock's tickin I just count the hours..."

This was hell. This was literal, metaphorical, actual, physical hell. Sam gritted her teeth as Tucker attempted to sing. Attempted wasn't the right word. It implied that Tucker was trying. As it was Sam was convinced that the only thing Tucker was _trying_ to do was ruin her eardrums forever.

She crossed her arms, sweltering in the heat of Tucker's beat up Datsun. Of course. No air conditioning either. Like she said, this was hell. Why Tucker chose to spend money on a blaring sound system and not fix the air conditioning was beyond her. Sam was learning more and more everyday just how much she didn't understand men. The only thing more ridiculous than Tucker's attempt to rap Kanye West lyrics was his bright cheery optimism despite the fact that it was over ninety eight degrees with the windows rolled down and they still had a good four hours left of driving.

"At the end of the day god dammit I'm killing this shit, I know damn well y'all feeling this-" Tucker spun and looked over at the passenger side for a moment, seeing the pure resentment on Sam's face, "Sorry." He finished.

He cleared his throat and turned the song down.

"Not a fan of Kanye?" He asked weakly.

"What gave it away?" Sam tapped her fingers along her crossed arms before readjusting her cat-eye sunglasses and dipped her black hat's brim even further over her pale face. She felt like she was getting a sunburn. Really, she wasn't a big fan of summer. Tucker on the other hand seemed to be reveling in it.

He looked up from the road for a moment, green eyes glimmering with mirth. His skin gleamed in the sun, dark fingers rapping along the steering wheel to the beat of the tune. His hair had grown in the past year and had been sectioned up and put in dreads. They were fascinating to Sam, but he refused to let her touch them. Instead he had pulled them back out of his face and off of his neck, foregoing the usual hat.

"Well, what do you want to listen to then?" Tucker asked diplomatically.

"Silence." Sam seethed, "Sweet glorious silence. For the next half hour."

Tucker frowned at her, but obeyed, pressing pause on his PDA to halt the song.

As much as Sam had missed Tucker, being in a car with him for three days traveling cross country was almost more than she could take. She wished for a moment that Danny was there. That he had stayed with her until her exams had ended and then took up the backseat so at least someone else would have told Tucker to shut it. Actually, Sam thought to herself, Danny probably would have just joined in and it would have been all downhill from there. At least Danny could sing semi on pitch. Although Tucker was always just off enough to clash terribly with anyone that could actually hold a note.

Sam rolled her forehead against the side of the car, letting the wind blow into her face. It was a miracle that the Datsun hadn't broken down already. Things were pretty rocky. They had had to pull over and let the motor cool down multiple times. All the while Tucker had tried to convince her that his car was fine. Tucker's PDA should be jealous with the amount of love he had for this piece of shit. Sam wrinkled her nose at the genuine leather seats. Poor creatures. Not to mention they were pouring carbon emissions into the atmosphere. She missed her vegan recycled leather seats and the purr of her electronic motor.

They were well into their twenty fifth minute of nothing but the sound of the engine struggling and the tires flicking up random chunks of rock before Tucker broke it.

"So." He dragged out the 'o' so that Sam knew he was going to ask something insensitive. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the seat as she prepared herself. Think of cold things, she thought. She thought of an cold vegan kale and banana smoothie. Of ice skating in December on Lake Eerie. Of Danny's cool hands, of his lips. Sam frowned, shaking her head a bit to dislodge that train of thought before it got any further.

"Danny." Tucker said and for a brief moment Sam was startled that Tucker seemed to read her thoughts, "We've been driving for two days now. We're both thinkin' it."

Yes, of course. The elephant in the room. Or car.

Tucker and Sam had discussed everything besides Danny. They had talked about their respective roommates and their new friends and new clubs. Tucker had talked incessantly about different parties he had attended and about how much he missed Valerie. They had collectively complained about their classes and professors. They had even debated which cafeteria had the worst food. Although Tucker getting food poisoning three times might have cinched the win. Sam had goaded him about becoming vegan after vomiting up bad meat on three separate occasions. They had gone through the motions of bickering - veggie versus meat. Through it all they had tiptoed around the huge gaping hole that was the empty backseat behind them.

"I would love to not talk about Danny." Sam grumbled, "Why does everything always come back to Danny?"

"Just saying." Tuck shrugged, "We're going to see him in a few days. Maybe we should game plan how to handle that?"

"Who said anything about me seeing him?" Sam asked stiffly, resenting the fact that Tucker just assumed she would go running back to him. Not that Tucker knew about Danny's visit, or that they were on semi-speaking terms again. Sam hadn't filled him in on that. She hadn't had the chance to in between Kanye West and Gwen Stefani renditions. Tucker's version of "Cool" was definitely uncool, and probably the worst thing Sam had ever experienced. And that was saying something. She'd had been dating a half-ghost for the better part of a year.

"You two still fighting?" Tucker asked, probing cautiously, a little concerned that Sam was so nonchalant.

Sam shrugged.

"A little. I guess. I dunno. We sort of talked a few days ago."

Tucker was silent, looking over at her to continue.

"He apologized." Sam explained, clipped, "Seemed genuine or something. He said he was going to explain everything when we got back."

She wasn't sure if she should tell Tucker about the whole portal thing. Or about Danny going to Vlad's. It felt like it was Danny's to share. Besides, Sam wasn't even convinced Danny was right on that matter. She hated lying, hated that Danny loved to always put her in positions where she found herself omitting the truth. He loved to swoop and poof, as Sam called it. Appearing out of thin air, putting a precious secret in her hands and then quite literally poofing off into oblivion, leaving her alone to defend it. And here she was again. Only, this time it felt worse because it was Tucker and Tucker was supposed to be Danny's best friend. Tucker was supposed to already know all of this. Danny was supposed to have told him. Sam's lips pursed at the realization of just how fractured their group was.

Well not for long. Not if she had any say in the matter. Sam was filled with sudden determination to clean off the friendships that had gotten dusty over the past year. It didn't matter if Danny and her never dated again - he would still be her friend. She realized that she wanted him as a friend still.

"What did he say?" Tucker asked.

Sam tried to see if she could sink through the passenger chair and turn invisible. Nope. Danny's ghost powers had - regretfully - not rubbed off on her.

"Sam?" Tucker prompted, looking over to see her slunk against the chair. He frowned, "What?"

"He said he'd explain everything when we get back." Sam said resolutely, promptly ending the conversation about Danny. There was a finality in her tone that said she was done speaking about it.

Tucker's eyes narrowed behind his glasses, not about to let her off that easy.

"Y'know." He started, "I'm used to Danny pushing me away, but not you Sam."

"I'm not pushing you away." Sam defended, but knew it was partially true, "It just seems like it's Danny's story to tell not mine."

"Ah, so there's _is_ a story, is there?"

"What? No- I mean-" Sam struggled, "Ugh! Both of you. Infuriating." She pulled at the brim of her hat. Tucker let out a soft chuckle.

"I'm just teasing you." He intoned, "So you and Danny are speaking again? That's a good sign, right?"

"Don't read into it too much." Sam grumbled. She rubbed her knuckles, bruised still from Danny's cheekbone.

"Last time I heard from him was a week ago. Called me out of the blue after months of just texting. I know he's busy and I'm busy and college and stuff but its just..." Tucker trailed off. Sam glanced over at him and frowned, putting a hand on his arm. She was so wrapped up in her own roller coaster of a romance she sometimes neglected to realize that Tucker had been loosing his best friend as well.

"I just want to know why he's being like this." Tucker huffed, a tinge of anger in his voice. Because god forbid that Danny had changed. "You don't know _anything?_ He tells you stuff. More than me, anyways. At least anymore."

"We hadn't talked in six months." Sam told him, "He talked to you way more than me. But yeah, he told me some of it. I don't think he told me all of it."

"So he hasn't just found new friends?" Tucker asked. Sam detected the insecurity in his voice. Tucker was scared of losing one of the two people that accepted him - terrible singing voice, nerd-talk, meat lover and all. Sam knew that behind a lot of humor and bravado Tucker still carried scars from high school. From being picked on and bullied, from having little to no friends. Danny had always been his wingman and Sam knew that Tucker had a small amount of hero worship in him. It had been largely Tucker's idea, the whole superhero thing. Danny of course had the morality and temperament for it, but Tucker had been the one making up superhero names until two in the morning.

Sam wondered if college was turning out to be the same way for him. She had thought that out of the three of them Tucker would have been the one to suddenly get a whole new crew, considering he had placed himself among plenty of people that were even more nerdy and geeky than himself. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe the irony was that Tucker now found himself in a sea of people _more_ nerdy than himself.

Sam punched Tucker's shoulder lightly.

"C'mon." She laughed, "This is Danny we're talking about. We're the only two people that could _possibly_ put up with him. He carries enough baggage to scare most people far away. And those stupid _puns!_"

Tucker grinned wryly.

"Besides." Sam sobered, thinking back to the first and last time Danny had gotten shit-faced, the way he had hid in the bathroom of the house party, "I don't think its that easy for him to make friends. The kid has some major trust issues."

"Case and point." Tucker nodded.

"Case and point." Sam repeated.

The two fell silent for a moment. Suddenly the silence was terrible and empty. It felt like Danny's absence was a deafening vacuum. Sam reached over and pressed play on Tucker's PDA, Kanye filling the car again - abet at a lower volume. The bass thudding mechanically but no longer making Sam's seat rattle.

_"This'll be a beautiful death jumpin out the window, letting everything go, I'm letting everything go."_

"So, what's going to be the first thing you do when we get back?" Tucker asked, venturing to break the silence. At least he wasn't singing.

"Take a long shower." Sam muttered, wiping a bit of sweat from her forehead, "Convince my mom to wash my clothes, and hibernate underneath my covers until its time to go back."

"Seriously."

"I dunno." Sam shrugged, propping her chin on her palm and gazing out at the scenery, her violet eyes flitted back and forth, "Probably sleep, spend some time with my parents so they get off my back, and then go hang out with Jazz before she gets the chance to corner me."

Sam was not prepared for whatever assault she knew Jazz was preparing for her upon her return. There was no way she was going within a three block perimeter of FentonWorks without Tucker there to deflect any attempts at Jazz's psychobabble.

"Well, I'm going to go to Nasty Burger tonight, if you want to come with." Tucker winked, "I've lost five pounds with all the terrible food at college. I've been craving a burger for months now. I'm going through serious withdrawals."

Valerie didn't come back until Monday or else Sam knew that Tucker would have headed straight over to see her. Although, Tucker's love for Nasty Burger was probably the only thing that could rival his current infatuation with Valerie Grey.

Hmm. Nasty Burger. That _did_ sound pretty good, Sam thought to herself.

"Alright. I'll come with." She intoned with a smile.

The silence they fell into afterwards was a comfortable one, punctuated only by the mindless droning of Kanye West and the tires chugging along the asphalt below.

_"We don't sleep. We don't sleep. We don't sleep. We don't sleep."_

x

It was dark out when they finally pulled up at the Nasty Burger. It looked the same as always, but slightly different. Like when someone rummages through your things, lifting up each object but setting it down barely ajar. The parking spaces were freshly painted and the "N" in the sign was out leaving just "Asty". When they ordered their food it wasn't from Valerie or Mikey, it was from a new team of high school students that Sam had never met. Sam didn't know why it bothered her so much. It was just weird to see evidence that Amity Park had changed at all, without her, even in just a year. It was terrifying to think that over the next four years this place she had known like the back of her own hand would slowly become less and less her home.

Sam glanced over to Tucker, taking in the dreadlocks as he shot her a giant grin. His face had lost a lot of its baby fat; his cheekbones were more defined. He held his triple-burger up in the air as if praising the meat deities. They had changed as well, but they were still the same.

The one thing that hadn't changed was the hot sauce, Sam thought to herself, as she savored her veggie burger. Still as atomic as always. Some things never did change, and for that she was grateful.

* * *

_tbc..._

* * *

Wee bit shorter of a chapter. Don't worry though, there's still lots more to come. :)


	7. Chapter 6

_Chapter Six: The Fenton Family_

* * *

Sam had spent the past three days skirting around the issue at hand. Three whole days Sam had spent holed up in her room, only to go outside to go shopping or let her mother treat her to mani pedis. Her nails were all perfectly black - no chips. Every minute she wasn't hanging out with Tucker she was hanging out with her parents. It had only taken seventy-two hours to drive her crazy.

She had to hand it to herself, she thought, looking up at the looming FentonWorks sign, three days was two days longer than she had thought she would have lasted with nothing but her parents for company.

She walked up their front steps and paused, before thinking better of this whole situation. Danny was supposed to be home. He was supposed to have flown in yesterday. She didn't know if she wanted to see him just yet. She wasn't ready, was she? She had thought she was ready. Deep down inside she knew that she probably would never be fully ready to try and sort out this whole mess, but that it needed to happen. The longer she had spent in Amity Park the more and more she had missed him. She thought back to her conversation she had had with him only a week before. The way he had held her, if only for a brief second. Sam felt warring emotions on both sides. God damn it, she loved him. She knew she loved him even if she had not admitted it to anyone, but why did he have to make everything so freaking complicated?

Tucker was behind her. There was a warm hand on her back to make sure she didn't try any last minute ditch attempts.

"Maybe just you and Danny should talk this one out." Sam started, spinning to leave, but the door suddenly swung open.

"Sam?" Said a familiar voice, "Tucker?"

There was a whirl of perfume and a intensely bone-crushing Fenton hug as long red hair tickled Sam's nose.

"Jazz." She greeted stiffly, not one for physical contact, but then again the Fentons were huggers. The whole lot of them. Jazz quickly let her go, only to envelop Tucker in one arm embrace, "Guys, its been so long."

"Yeah." Sam echoed softly, looking down at the steps. Jazz had grown even taller since she had last seen her. Her hair was to her waist now. She was still slim and beautiful, like a willow branch. Her face had hardly changed. Sam watched as Jazz straightened her shirt and regained her stiff posture.

"Come in, come in." Jazz beckoned them inside.

Tucker and Sam entered the house. They were instantly assaulted by the comforting aroma of home-made cookies.

If there was one thing in Amity Park that hadn't changed, it was FentonWorks. Everything was its usual organized chaos. Things were haphazardly strewn across the living room, but there was a definite air of purpose for why each item was where it was. Random things that weren't supposed to beep beeped, like the lamp for instance, and the picture frames. Probably some kind of ghost detection device in disguise.

Jazz was combing her hand through her hair as she moved down the hallway and gestured for them to sit down. Sam ran her hands along the familiar well-worn sofa. It wasn't particularly flattering. It wasn't like her house, where everything had been handpicked by some expensive interior designer based on looks rather than ergonomics. The Fenton house was function over form. As such this couch was unfortunate looking, but super comfy. Homey. The house was homey and cozy and distinctly Fenton.

"Who's at the door?"

Maddie Fenton poked her head out from behind the kitchen wall and positively beamed at the sight of the two of them.

"Mads! Look who it is!" Boomed Jack's voice as he made he way out of the kitchen and over to them, tray of still hot cookies in hand.

Great, Sam thought, a full family reunion. Tucker gave a big grin, giving Jack the fist pump he knew he wanted. Jack and Tucker had always been buddies. Jack fondly- yet awkwardly - patted Sam on the head as if he wasn't quite sure how to greet the glowering goth. At least he had finally gotten the memo, after almost four years, that she didn't like being touched.

Maddie placed two cups of coffee onto the table before them.

"Oh, honey." She murmured, eyes brimming, "It's so wonderful to see you. We haven't heard from you in a while."

"Mom." Jazz sent her a withering look, "Dad. Can we have some privacy?"

"Oh of course, sweetie."

"Cookies?" Jack offered, waving the cookies under Sam and Tucker's nose. Sam's mouth watered, but she restrained herself. Tucker didn't. He had about three in his mouth by the time Jack left the room.

"If I had known you were coming over I would have made some vegan ones, dear." Maddie apologized, "Although I have some of that coconut ice cream you like. Want some?"

"No thank you." Sam felt herself smiling, despite herself. It was impossible to hate this family.

"Okay, well. Stay for dinner, alright?" She gave Sam a quick peck on the cheek, "You look like you've lost some weight."

"Mom!" Jazz snapped, horrified.

Maddie put her hands up in defense and left the room, her laugh like wind chimes as she retreated back into the kitchen.

Jazz turned to look at the two of them and heaved a sigh.

"I'm sorry, guys." Her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment, "You don't have to stay for dinner if you don't want to. I totally get it if you don't want to. My family's a little overwhelming."

Sam didn't beat around the bush. She had been very nearly mauled by every member of the Fenton family save for one.

"Where's Danny?" She asked pointedly.

Jazz played with her hairband.

"Well, I was hoping you two would have the answer to that riddle." She admitted after a moment.

x

"So I went to go pick him up at the airport. His plane landed, but he wasn't on it." Jazz finished, looking over at the two of them from her perch on her bed. They had retreated to her bedroom for the time being. Downstairs there was the soft clinking of Maddie making dinner and the occasional crash of Jack down in the basement. The sounds were noises that Sam and Tucker had forgotten, having been gone for so long.

"Have you tried calling him?" Sam joked blandly.

Jazz sent her a dark look.

"Of course I have. No answer. His phone's dead."

Sam spun idly in the computer chair. She picked up one of Jazz's heavy college medical books and weighed it, alarmed.

"Well, he hasn't called or texted me." Tucker told Jazz, ire in his voice.

"Sam?" Jazz looked over at her. Sam dropped the book back down onto the oak desk and winced a little at the loud boom.

"I don't know anything." Was Sam's immediate response. Already the hurt of Danny's betrayal and the confusion of his return were coiling up within her. She hadn't yet taken the time to figure out how she felt about this whole thing. Hell, she didn't even know the whole story of what had happened. Danny was supposed to be here telling her and Tucker what was going on. There was too many opposing feelings. How she felt about him, about them, about how he had hurt her, about how he had apologized. Everything felt far too complex. And yet- she remembered a time when everything had been stupidly easy. Back in High School when they hunted ghosts each night, ate Nasty Burger, and secretly conspired agains the A-Listers. She longed for that kind of naive simplicity. The only thing she knew for certain was that she was mad at him, but she still wanted to be friends with him. She still care about him, deeply. She picked at her nails habitually, denting a chip and fracturing her brand new manicure only a day after receiving it.

"Sam." Jazz's voice was suddenly firm like iron, "I won't ask you about it. Not if you don't want to talk about it. But, I need to know where my brother is. If you know anything about where Danny is, you have to tell me."

Jazz had her protective big sister face on. Her lips were pursed expectantly. Tucker looked over at her, hurt that Sam had been withholding information from him.

"Alright." Sam relented, looking down at the floor, ashamed, "I know where he might be."

Jazz waited patiently.

"Well?"

Sam knew Danny was going to be pissed at her, probably, for telling them. But he should have kept his word and just arrived home on time. So really, Sam rationalized, it was his god damn fault. Not hers. Besides, she was no longer his girlfriend, which meant she was no longer obligated to keep all his secrets for him. Sam was starting to understand that it was only hurting Danny to keep all these secrets for him.

"He said he was going to Vlad's." She spilled.

"What? Why?" Tucker sat up straighter, affronted, "Why didn't you tell me this?"

"He was supposed to be here by now. He was _supposed_ to be telling you himself." Sam spat.

Jazz was silent as Sam and Tucker started to bicker, ignoring them as she glided up out of her bed and looked out her window, worry flowing through her. Danny had all but cut her off since going to college. She didn't quite understand all of it. Before he had left Jazz and him had been as close as they had ever been. Her fingers trailed along the windowsill. The only thing that kept her from feeling hurt was the fact that Danny had pushed everyone - not just her - away. And that left her very, very concerned. Because it meant he was hiding something. Something he was too terrified to tell his family - his girlfriend - his best friend.

"Why would he go to Vlad? What could he possibly want from him?" Tucker was still arguing.

"How am I supposed to know? He tells me nothing!"

"Well it sure sounds like he tells you a _whole lot of nothing._"

"Guys-" Jazz interrupted, "I have a bad feeling about all of this. Danny should have at least called me. I know he has been distant lately, but he wouldn't just make me drive all the way to the airport if he knew he wasn't going to make the flight."

Sam said nothing, but internally agreed. Tucker fell silent at that.

"So what?" Sam prompted, "What now?"

"Maybe we wait a few more days?" Tucker asked.

"A few more days until what?" Sam dared him to say it, sending a sharp shooting glare over at him and all his dreadlocks and his comic book ideals.

"Until we go to Vlad's, of course." Jazz didn't wait for Tucker to say it. She finished the thread.

Sam shook her head immediately, not sure what exactly she was refusing. She didn't want to go put herself in danger for Danny, she was still upset with him. She didn't want Tucker to go by himself. Above all, she certainly did not want Jazz Fenton to attempt a rescue. Even if Vlad Masters had proven himself a blundering idiot time and time again, sadly Jazz was not much better. Besides, she knew that if Jazz got hurt at all in a rescue mission Danny would be not only eternally pissed at both Sam and Tucker, but blame himself. Sam didn't want to incite his sibling wrath.

"Sam-" Tucker started, placing a hand on her arm.

"Nope."

"C'mon. I know, I know, but what if something's happened to him?"

"He can take care of himself." Sam stated, crossing her arms.

"You don't have to go, Sam." Jazz said, "I know how hard all of this must be. I'll go with Tucker. We'll be fine."

"Nope." Sam repeated. Her head shaking increased as her internal struggle reached its peak. She felt the beginnings of tears in her eyes, hysteria overtaking her. She knew it was her or Jazz going on this mission.

"You are not going." She told Jazz, "Tucker and I will go if he's not back by tomorrow night."

"Sam.." Jazz frowned thoughtfully.

"I've made up my mind." Sam told the girl, "I might not like Danny right now, but I still care about him."

"I could tell Mom and Dad." Jazz ventured, "They could come with. Mom's pretty handy in a fight."

Something deep in Sam told her that Danny's parents coming to Wisconsin was a bad idea. She wasn't sure what it was. Maybe it was the weird vibes Danny had given her last week, and the way he had frozen her cup of coffee without meaning to... but Sam didn't think it was a good idea.

"Just Tucker and me. If we don't come back in three days you can tell them." Sam decided.

Jazz stared at her for a long moment, before nodding. She turned to Tucker suddenly, putting a soft hand on his shoulder.

"Tuck, can you please go downstairs and help my mom set the table and get everything ready for dinner? My dad always seems to break something and dinner should be ready soon. You are staying right?"

Tucker wasn't so dumb to not realize this was a ploy to get Sam alone, but he nodded and got up.

Sam sent him a pleading look for him to stay, but he gave her a crooked grin and a thumbs up before shutting the door behind him. His footsteps faded as he bounded down the stairs. In the distance she heard Maddie's voice greeting Tucker into the kitchen and the clatter of forks and knives. Sam refused to look at Jazz for a long moment, feeling exposed under her scrutiny. She was still ripped open, raw, despite trying to put a patch over her throbbing heart.

"You don't have to say anything." Jazz prefaced, choosing her words carefully, "Just listen to what I have to say."

Sam gritted her teeth. She hated psychiatry. Her parents had sent her to multiple psychiatrists, convinced her demure demeanor and overall gloomy attitude could be cured.

"I know you must be still be hurt and angry. I would never ask this of you if I didn't think it was necessary, but I'm really really worried. Danny has never been like this before. I know the last thing you want to do is think about him, much less talk to him, but he's messing up - _big time._ It hasn't just been you he's cut off. Mom, Dad, me, Tucker, everyone... The only person he listens to is you."

Sam scoffed.

"I know, I know." Jazz shook her head slightly, pulling at her hair, "But its true. He's always been afraid of disappointing you, Sam."

Jack's voice suddenly broke through the room, announcing dinner.

Jazz sighed, before getting up from her chair and moving to the door. Her hand fell lightly onto the doorknob before she paused, looking over at Sam who was still in her computer chair.

"Thank you, Sam. Thank you so much for what you've given to this family. You're so selfless that sometimes no one notices and I know I'm a terrible person for asking you to be selfless one last time for my brother. I hope that after Danny pulls his head out of his ass he realizes you belong here - with us."

Sam couldn't help but laugh at how absurd it was to hear Jazz curse.

Jazz gave her a small grin, despite herself.

"Seriously though, that was supposed to be heartfelt. You're like a sister to me. And I'm going to stick Danny in the thermos for a whole week for hurting you."

"No complaints there." Sam told her.

Jazz looked at her, searching, forever searching, to try and read Sam's face. Sam rolled her eyes as she practically watched Jazz's psychiatrist brain steaming on overload. She spun around once more in the chair before giving in. In one decisive movement she made up her mind and got up out of the chair, crossed the room, and had her arms tightly and awkwardly around the taller girl. She pressed her face into Jazz's shoulder, throat choked, as she instigated her first genuine hug in years.

"Oh, Sam." Jazz relaxed, hesitantly wrapping her arms around the shorter girl and threading her fingers into her dark hair. Jazz's presence was so comforting. Sam realized distantly that what Jazz said was true, it had been all along. They were sisters.

"Can I stay for dinner?" She asked, pulling back. She regained her composure. Jazz seemed to sense that Sam's brief moment of vulnerability was over and she said no more about the subject.

"Of course. I was hoping you would."

x

Dinner with the Fentons was only a fraction less chaotic than normal. There was no ghostly bread bent on attacking them, and Jazz had no little brother to flick peas at. However Jack and Maddie were still loud and Jazz was still mortified by their questions.

"Sam, honey, you going to any parties?" Maddie was probing. Sam was only realizing now the results of essentially having two worrying mothers.

"Mom." Jazz snapped, "Please. You're making her uncomfortable."

"Remember when we were in college, Jack?" Maddie smiled up at her husband who was shoveling food in his mouth with constrained dignity. He swallowed and beamed.

"Man, those were the times!" He exclaimed, putting at arm around her waist, "Those Pi Club parties really got crazy."

"Pi Club Dad? - Really?" Jazz intoned, "Could you get any nerdier?"

Jack ruffled her hair fondly, ignoring her.

"One time Vlad-" Maddie started, but Jack was already finishing her story.

"Vladdie got completely drunk and ended up falling asleep in the shower. He tried to get back to our room, but he went down the wrong hallway-"

"-The dorms were all symmetrical, it got confusing." Maddie cut in to explain. Tucker, and Sam glanced at each other at the mention of Vlad.

Jazz buried her face in her hands with a groan that sounded suspiciously like _not this story again_. Tucker was grinning in rapt attention.

"-and he ended up in the girls wing. He walked straight into some poor girls room stark naked and flicked the light on."

Jack dissolved into _gwuaffs_ of laughters that practically shook the table. Maddie was laughing uncontrollably as well, wiping a tear off from the corner of her eye.

Sam couldn't help but smile at the story. She tried to imagine a nerdy Vlad Masters doing something like that. Tucker was chuckling into his food.

"The best part was he was too drunk to find his way back so he fell asleep with just a towel on in the dorm common room sofa. All night. I found him in the morning, towel half off."

"We really were terrible, Jack." Maddie smiled. The two of them looked dreamily at each other, lost in memory.

"Great, just great." Jazz took another bite of spaghetti, "Just what I needed to hear. Vlad Masters naked."

Sam choked on her food for a moment.

"So-" Maddie broke out of her reverie, "How's your roommate Sam?"

Sam smiled at the thought of Jules, missing her a bit even though she had only known the bullheaded girl for a year.

"She's great. I think we're going to be good friends." She told Maddie in between bites.

"You know, some of my best friends were from college." Maddie told her, glancing meaningfully at Jack who had spaghetti sauce dribbling down his chin. She then turned to Tucker, "What about you?"

He shrugged nonchalantly.

"He's okay. A little shy. Think I'm going to bunk with someone new next year."

"Ah- that's too bad." Maddie poured more water into her glass and took a sip, "Danny's roommate.. well, he was a bit odd."

The whole table fell suddenly into an oppressive silence. Tucker and Sam looked up from their food at the Fentons who were staring down at their own plates, troubled expressions on their face. Sam was almost thrown by the sharp change in mood.

"Was?" She prompted, looking over at Jazz for an explanation, but Jazz refused to meet her gaze. She was picking at her noodles with far to much attention.

Sam had only met Ryan once. And had only talked to him a handful of times. The only things she knew about him were all that Danny had told her. And according to Danny Ryan was a troubled boy with a bad rap sheet. Danny never told her explicitly, but the way he mentioned Ryan made it seem like the boy was either always drunk or high.

"He get kicked out or something?" Tucker asked. It was a valid conclusion, considering Danny had told Sam Ryan was on AP for much of the first half of the year.

"No." Maddie took another stiff sip of water.

"He's in a coma." Jazz said quietly.

Sam felt the air rush out of her lungs.

"Why?" Tucker asked, fork paused mid-way to his mouth.

"No one knows."

"Poor kid." Maddie was saying, "That poor family."

"Wait a minute-" Sam backtracked, "When did this happen?"

"News got released via email a few days ago." Jazz told them, "It was sent out to all the parents of Danny's school. Apparently Ryan's been in the hospital for a few weeks now but they only just released the information. I think they were waiting to see if he would wake up or not."

"Does it look like he's going to?" Sam asked.

"What caused it?" Tucker asked, at the same time.

"Danny didn't tell you guys?" Jazz countered.

They both shook their heads, mute.

"He didn't tell us either." Maddie intoned, "And he didn't come home last night. Jack, honey, I'm really worried. You know how upset he gets with things like this." She placed a slender hand over Jack's and gave it a soft squeeze, her eyes shining with the kind of fear a mother had for her child.

Sam reeled with the news. She had just seen Danny last week and he hadn't even mentioned this. Her heart pounded at the implications. Tucker had said Danny had called him two weeks ago. Around the same time as Ryan's sudden illness.

Sam pushed her plate away, appetite lost.

"Excuse me, bathroom." She muttered, getting up and moving out of the kitchen.

* * *

_tbc..._


	8. Chapter 7

_Chapter Seven: The midnight rescue at hand doesn't exactly go as planned._

* * *

"This is new. Mom just finished it a month ago." Jazz held up a tiny gun, spinning it in her palm, "This might be good for you, Sam."

"What? Cause its small?" Sam muttered, offended.

"No." Jazz smiled conspiratorially, "Because it has the biggest recoil. And you're in better shape than Tucker." She turned to give the kid a glance, "No offense."

"None taken." Tucker shrugged.

Sam looked at the gun thoughtfully, the FentonWork's logo vinyl printed on the side. It was gleaming in the light, brand new. Behind them the Portal was silent. It was still under lock and key. It was strange being down here again in this basement- the basement where it had all started.

As more and more puzzle pieces were coming to light Sam was getting more and more convinced that the boy she had thought she knew wasn't who she thought he was. Ryan Peterson's sudden coma was perhaps the most troubling of all, but Danny's disappearance was high up on that list. Sam knew they had a few pieces but still couldn't see the whole picture.

Tucker had immediately researched the whole case. It had taken a considerable amount of effort, four hours, a whole pepperoni pizza, and five cups of strong coffee for Tucker to hack into the hospital's server. As it was right now Ryan was still on life support. The doctors could find no reason for why it had happened. No brain trauma, no cancer, no deficiencies. No drug overdose either, although he had dangerously high levels of cocaine and ecstasy in his system upon admission. His brain had little to no activity, and there had been no sign of life for over a week. It was nearly impossible to think he would recover, but his family hadn't pulled the plug as of yet. Sam wasn't sure what the link was to Danny, but she knew that it was no coincidence he had suddenly reached out to Tucker and herself around the same time Ryan had fallen mysteriously ill. She hoped that Danny's withdrawl from them wasn't because of the obvious. There was a reason Sam and Tucker hadn't told Danny's family about Ryan's struggle with addiction. So much could be easily explained by drug use, but Sam gave Danny the benefit of the doubt.

Danny had still not come home, which was why Tucker, Jazz and Sam were suiting up in preparation for what awaited them at Vlad's manor.

"I'll take it." Sam nodded, "I like it." The weight and calibration was spot on. The gun was damn near perfect - a far cry from the older beat up ecto-blaster she still carried around with her in her purse. The Fentons had always put most of their effort in their ghost detection and detainment instruments, but ever since learning Danny's true identity and what he had been doing all throughout high school Maddie and Jack had dedicated a large amount of resources into perfecting a few assault weapons.

_We Fentons are always prepared for anything,_ Maddie had told Sam kindly when Sam had been saying her college goodbyes. The older woman had pulled out a gift, letting Sam unwrap it in their living room. One of the older Fenton ecto-blasters had been carefully wrapped inside, velcroed into its holster along with an upgraded Thermos. One offensive weapon, one defensive weapon. Sam had felt her heart swell at Maddie's words and at the gift; at the idea that she had a unique spot in the Fenton household.

Danny had rolled his eyes, his arm looped gently around her shoulders as he sat next to her on the couch.

"Sorry, Sam." He had told her, "Looks like you're stuck with us. I wouldn't wish this upon even my worst enemies."

Maddie had lightly punched her son in the arm.

"Oh shush." She told him, "We're not that bad."

Danny had given her a incredulous look.

"Not that bad?" He repeated, "You just gave my girlfriend _a gun_ as a going away present." But, he looked secretly pleased. Not only with his mother's obvious approval of Sam and him, but also the fact that Sam now had the means to protect herself. It had been something he had worried about, what with him going all the way off to California.

"That gun also works for creepy frat bros." He had told Sam with a dangerous wink that said he was not altogether kidding, "Better than mace."

"Not as good as the ol' Fenton Creep Stick." Jack had butted in. The pair of them, Danny and Jack, rivaled each other for their overprotective streaks. "Maybe we should get her one of those too, don't you think Mads?"

Jazz was rummaging around in the large armory. There were over twenty different guns that were hanging in a dedicated safe that was hidden behind the large bookshelf in the downstairs basement.

"Let's see.." Jazz muttered, yanking out a medium-sized gun, "I'm assuming you guys might be wanting to hide these on your person. So this should do nicely for you, Tucker."

She carefully handed the gun over, even though it wasn't loaded. The spot where the ecto-pod attached was empty.

"Is this new too?" Tucker asked, looking at the gun in the low light.

"No. Its my old one, but Mom upgraded a few things."

Jazz tucked her hair back out of her face as she pulled open a drawer and then withdrew a slender and very familiar device.

"This still has Danny's signature on it." She told them, handing it over. Sam tucked the Boo-merang into her purse, ignoring how it was deadly silent.

Jazz nodded, turning around slowly and tapping her finger to her lips as she thought.

"I think that's everything. You both have one weapon, one Thermos, one net, a Spectre Deflector and the Boo-merang, " She murmured, "I'd say that we did a pretty good job, despite the fact that we don't know what to prepare for. There's just one more thing I need to give you."

She moved across the basement to the opposite side of the lab. There were beakers and test tubes scattered around. You could tell which side was Jack's and which side was Maddie's. Jack's was unkempt, full of strange liquids and boiling glowing floating things in flasks. Maddie's was neat and organized and full of device prototypes, circuitry, and welding equipment. It was clear that Maddie created all the housing for Fenton devices while Jack created the power sources.

Jazz grabbed a heavy locked briefcase from underneath the table and dusted off a few crumbs and fudge stains. She quickly put in the code.

"Really? 1-2-3?" Sam looked over her shoulder.

"My dad isn't exactly the most secretive person." Jazz told her, popping the suitcase open and giving them each pod of glowing acid green ecto-plasmic energy. "You know how to load these right?"

Tucker and Sam nodded.

"Right. Sometimes I forget how long you two were fighting ghosts without me knowing. Be careful with these. They get too hot and... well, you know."

They would explode. Things would get messy. Sam nodded, carefully putting hers next to her gun and against her side.

"Most importantly." Jazz turned to them both, "Please be careful."

"Don't worry Jazz." Tucker grinned, "We'll be fine. We do this all the time."

Not recently, they hadn't, Sam thought to herself, but she didn't let the doubt show. She instead patted Jazz on the arm and gave her a confident smirk.

"No big deal, Jazz." She told her, "We'll be in and out and back before tomorrow night."

"If you aren't I'm going to tell Maddie." Jazz warned them. Her eyes suddenly lit up as she remembered something, "Before I forget!"

She reached into her purse and gave Sam what looked suspiciously like a walkie-talkie... in the shape of Jack Fenton's face.

"Keep me updated. I'll be awake all night in case something goes wrong."

There was the Jazz Sam remembered. The meddling, nosy Jazz that - for the past half hour had been strangely vacant. Sam knew that Jazz was older now. It showed more in the way she handled situations such as these. A year before and Jazz would have been a bundle of nerves. For someone that could easily handle everyone else's breakdowns she sure had had a lot of them herself. A year ago and Jazz would have refused outrightly to let them go without her. But, she seemed to have fully matured. Jazz no longer gave off this feeling like she was a kid masquerading desperately as an adult. She felt like an actual adult.

"Nothing will go wrong." Tucker told her.

Sam wasn't so sure.

* * *

It was nearing nightfall when Tucker and Sam arrived at the manor.

It loomed up before them hauntingly. The grounds seemed too calm for comfort. There wasn't even a breeze to shake the hundred year old aspens. Most of the lights were off in the house as well, and for a moment Sam was concerned that they had guessed wrong, that Vlad wasn't even here. That Danny wasn't here either. She felt her anger at Danny, a constant simmer, start to bubble up again.

"Ops to Ground Team, are you guys there yet?" Jasmine's voice crackled suddenly through the walkie-talkie. Jazz had been checking in on their status every half hour. Sam gritted her teeth and rolled her eyes, grabbing it off of the dashboard.

"Annoyed to Overbearing, we're arriving now. Expect radio silence for the next few hours."

"Concerned to Overconfident, be careful out there."

Sam shut off the walkie-talkie as Tucker kicked off the Datsun's loud motor and turned the lights off. He shifted the gear down into neutral and let the car slowly roll its way down the steep winding driveway. As they reached the front of the house he pulled the car off to the side behind some bushes - hidden for the moment.

The two of them looked at each other and grabbed the other's hand - silent for the time being in almost prayer that this would go swimmingly. Sam couldn't remember the last time she felt like this, brimming with adrenaline and purpose. Sure, there was a small amount of fear too, but it was overshadowed by thrill. This was what being Danny Phantom's best friend felt like. She had almost forgotten amid the countless hours studying, falling asleep in lectures and watching reruns of Law & Order with Jules. The gleam in Tucker's eye suggested the he was thinking the same thing as, despite himself, he gave her an excited grin.

Sam just hoped they weren't too rusty at this whole fighting ghosts thing.

"Ready?" He asked her.

"As ready as I'll ever be." She told him.

The two of them got out of the car and patted themselves down to make sure they had all their Fenton equiptment. Sam grabbed the Boo-merang which had been steadily beeping louder and louder as they had gotten further and further through Wisconsin. It only confirmed that Danny was here, but she had no clue how to turn it off. As it was, it would give up their position instantly. They had to leave it behind and find Danny inside the mansion on their own.

"What's the plan?" Tucker whispered, turning to Sam.

Sam found she slipped into the leader role easily. She bit her tongue for a moment, as she peered up the huge side of the mansion. There was a second story window that was slightly ajar. She spun silently and looked at the twisted oak that was growing along side the house.

"Can you climb?" She asked dryly. Tucker followed her train of logic, following her gaze before he shook his head violently.

"No way. What if you fall?"

"Its only a few stories." Sam said lightly, punching Tucker in the arm, "Shouldn't break anything too major."

"I don't know..." Tucker paled a little, "I don't think I can."

Sam hefted herself up onto the lowest branch. Thank you jeans, thank you vegan diet. As she reached up to grab another branch she flinched, the Spectre Deflector digging into her hipbone and restraining her movement.

"What's wrong?" Tucker noticed immediately.

"The belt." Sam whispered, jumping back down the few feet she had climbed. She unhooked it from around her waist.

"I don't think you should take it off." Tucker advised.

"Its either that or I risk falling halfway up."

Tucker was silent as she handed the device over to him, eyes glimmering disapproval.

"Don't worry. I still have the gun and the net." She patted her back where the gun was tucked underneath the belt of her jeans, pressing against her back.

She tried the climb again, carefully picking her way up the oak, determined not to look down. When she got to about the same level as the window she tapped it with her foot, clinging to the branch of the tree, until the window was wide open enough to make the leap. Adrenaline pounding she took in a deep breath.

"If I die, I'm so going to haunt you, Danny." She breathed, before launching herself off of the branch and through the second story window.

With a rough tumble and a stifled squeak she found herself on the floor inside Masters's villa. She took a moment to be grateful for all the practice she had of breaking and entering into her own room when she had been in high school. Gathering her limbs she checked for any broken bones, finding only minor bruises and a scraped knee. So much for these jeans, she thought. Although the ripped knee style was kinda cool...

"Sam?!" Tucker's strained whisper drifted up through the window.

Sam poked her head out and looked down. The faint glow of a cellphone screen was the only way she could see Tucker down below.

"I'm fine." She whispered down, "Go stand by the car, get ready to bolt at a moments notice. If anything goes south I'll give you a call and you barge through the front door."

Tucker nodded.

"Be careful." He stated uncertainly, "I have a bad feeling."

"We'll be fine." She whispered, but she shared the sentiment. She had been getting that ominous feeling all night. She watched as Tucker's phone glowed and bobbed as he picked his way through the surrounding bushes to go back to the Datsun.

She was on her own now.

With a deep breath she turned and took in the interior of the room. She looked to be in a library of sorts. Loads of uncomfortable black leather armchairs were scattered across the way. She shifted her boots and looked down, a giant lion pelt staring back up at her. She shivered. Vlad's taste in decor was just the perfect balance of masculine bachelor and creepy bad guy. She smiled a bit, remembering Jack's voice. For a minute she wished she had that Fenton Anti-Creep Stick, even if it was just a plain bat.

Ok. Where to find Danny? She had to admit, she wished they had thought out a better plan, but to be honest she had no clue what to expect here. She knew Danny had come here on his own account. But obviously he hadn't been allowed to leave as freely. She fingered the small blaster at her hip at the thought. Its soft weight was comforting against her hipbone.

The lack of light made long shadows against the wall, making her nerves fried as more than once she had been certain she had seen something. She wished she had the Boo-merang, but knew that its steady beep at Danny's DNA would give her away. Still, it would have made finding him that much easier. This house was enormous and she knew it had many hidden labs and secret passageways.

Sam lightly pushed the door open and cautiously stepped into the hallway, feeling very much exposed. There was no sign that Vlad was even here, but she didn't want to take any chances. Even if Vlad wasn't here - with a house this big - someone was bound to be here. A butler perhaps? A maid? One of Vlad's many ghost minions? She wished that Dani was here, however selfishly, because at least then she would have a strong ally. Who knew if Danny was in any condition to fight Vlad.

She quickly hurried down the hall, pressing an ear lightly to each door as she passed by. The second floor seemed to be deserted and she stopped again on the banister. She had a decision to make - and fast.

Upstairs or downstairs?

The villain in Vlad suggested downstairs- down to the first floor and then to the basement. It seemed only apt. If Vlad was harboring Danny and he fulfilled all the villainous cliches he would have some sort of secret dungeon. Maybe she should have pulled all the books back in the library to see if a wall swung around? For some reason the thought of it wasn't ridiculous. It was probably because this mansion felt like straight out of _Dracula._ Only - Sam looked at the football inside a plexiglass case, sitting oddly atop a nineteenth century armoire - with more Packers stuff.

For some reason, and she wasn't sure why, she took to the upstairs landing. Maybe it was because she was terrified of what she would find if she went downstairs. Or perhaps because she had a feeling that Danny was upstairs not down, but regardless, as soon as her feet climbed up the last step she knew she had made the right decision.

Down the hallway there was a kind of uncanny unease that was creeping from underneath the door jam. A feeling that was quintessentially Phantom. Sam had forgotten what it felt like after not seeing him for so long - not realizing she had grown accustomed to his aura throughout high school.

There was a flickering glow emitting from the crack underneath the door. Sam resisted the urge to run down the hallway and throw the door open. Instead she crept, feeling the temperature drop steadily the closer she got to it. Another sign that Danny was behind there. She ran a finger along the doorknob, pressing her ear against the solid oak panel. For a long moment all she heard was silence, before she heard the dull humming vibration that only came from how Danny Phantom affected the surrounding air. He was definitely inside. But where was Vlad?

_Fuck it_ - she thought to herself - if Vlad was behind there she'd deal with him herself. With a grim determination she grabbed the blaster and checked that it was loaded and charged, ready to fire. She simultaneously turned the doorknob and flicked off the safety, pressing the door open and poking her head inside - gun out and ready to blast.

As the door opened a wave of cold air rolled through her like she had opened a refrigerator on a sweltering summer day, chilling her to the bone. But the chill wasn't relieving, or comforting. It wasn't a popsicle in ninety degree weather. It was the feeling of pulling out a gurney. Like identifying a dead body in a morgue. There was a certain amount of dread came attached to it.

Her heart was pounding in her ears as she stepped across the threshold, eyes quickly scanning the room. She had been expecting a lab. Expecting to find Danny, strapped to a table, or shoved inside a glass tube - or even some clone of Danny with a mutated twisted body, slowly decomposing against Vlad's plush carpeting. She did not expect to find a four-poster bed with plain deep blue Egyptian cotton sheets and a relatively un-evil dresser with Danny's suitcase atop.

It only took her about two seconds to see Danny.

Her head whipped up as she lowered her gun - no Vlad in sight - and drank in the sight of him, alive, and sitting atop the ceiling with his back to her.

* * *

_tbc..._

* * *

Here we go, guys.


	9. Chapter 8

_Chapter Eight: Slumber Party at the Frenemy's House_

* * *

"Danny?"

He made no movement that he heard her.

Sam closed the door behind her silently, padding along the Moroccan rug and climbed atop the bed - it was the only way she had any hope of getting close to him as the ceilings in this room were vaulted. She swallowed dryly as she got closer. Something was wrong. Something was off. The same ominous feeling that Tucker and her had shared briefly before her breaking and entering flooded back into her now.

She had to admit it made her a little weirded out to see him defying all laws of gravity.

Danny always tried to stay grounded, even though he didn't have to as Phantom - more for the sake of those around him. And now she knew why. Seeing him rooted firmly to the ceiling made him feel unreal - unnatural, even dangerous to a certain extent.

"Danny?" She whispered, her head a mere three feet from his. His hair drifted lazily, almost like he was underwater. His form was giving off a faint soft glow, bathing the entire room in unearthly light. If not for his glow his inky black hazmat suit would have melted into the shadows of the room. Suddenly she felt uneasy, afraid, of _him_.

"Danny, say something." She snapped her fingers, voice raising - not caring if Vlad heard anymore.

He moved then, slowly. Achingly slowly. He spun his head around to look at her - their eyes almost level - his face upside down in front of her where he was hovering decidedly on the ceiling as if the ceiling was the floor. His eyes were almost black, with a inhuman glowing ring of bright neon green vibrating underneath. They crackled and thrummed with restrained energy - two perfect circles of contained lightening.

There was no recognition in them, there was no _Danny_ in them. Sam felt her breathing stop as they stared at each other.

"Danny, snap out of it." She said with more courage than she felt. She could feel the waves of raw power emanating from him, more than she had ever felt before. Had he always had this much power and he had just acted all along?

Her mind flashed back to that night in the basement - when he had screamed and broken all the glass. How the glass had hovered - suspended - in the air, spinning violently around in circles. The loud rushing noise of electricity; the way the air had decompressed until it had been hard to breath; her breath crystalizing in front of her face and his hand reaching out for her chest - her mouth.

She had forgotten this.

Sam had filed away that memory as a fluke. Danny had just been supercharged with electricity. They had all said that that night had been a result of his sudden transformation and nothing more. And Danny had done nothing but agree. Ever since then he had shoddy abilities at best, uncovering new abilities and training to get his endurance up. Sam felt the stopwatch in her hand as if it were yesterday, timing him, goading him to try harder and push faster. She remembered the beads of sweat on Danny's face as he tried for the millionth time to create a double of himself, only to come out with two heads.

That Danny couldn't be _this_ Danny. Vlad must have done something to him - something to unleash all of this...potential.

"What did Vlad do?" She whispered, peering along his body for any sign of injury. Finding nothing but tanned slightly translucent skin. Even the eye that she had decked only days before was completely healed.

His hands were tucked together oddly, sitting in his lap. There were two rings - almost like cuffs, around them. She reached out to grab them, but her hand flew right through him as though he were a freezing vapor. The outline of his body wavered like she had dipped her hand through the heavy fog of dry ice.

"I can't help you if I can't touch you." She said helplessly, teeth chattering.

He stared at her blankly, but the crackling energy in his green irises had calmed somewhat. Sam knew she should be comforted by that fact. That he seemed to be slowly recognizing her, but instead it filled her with a sense of foreboding. Even though he wasn't doing anything he was creeping her out. She felt very much like a rabbit trying to pick a piece of food out from a fox's tooth. Like she had stuck her head inside its mouth, neck pressed against lethal canines, to clean the back molars. She knew instinctively that this Danny was terribly dangerous. And, from the looks of it, not entirely in the right state of mind.

"Give me your hands." She demanded. She tried to make her voice authoritative. She remembered the way Tucker had spoken to him the night of the accident. Tucker had lowered his voice, almost like one talked to a wild dog. Sam had never had a dog, but she had attempted to train Cujo with Danny years ago. She tried valiantly to channel her inner dog handler, but her emotion was betraying her, voice raising, panicked, "Come down from the ceiling."

He gave no movement, before his head tilted almost imperceptibly a half millimeter. She had the sudden feeling that he realized she was there in that moment. That feeling was followed by another more poignant one. The feeling that she should wish he _hadn't_ discovered her. The feeling that she should run.

"Sam." He said.

Only, it wasn't Danny's voice. It was the voice of a thousand different voices. It came from everywhere, surrounding her. It even came from within the confines of her own mind. It was a sweet whisper in her ear and simultaneously a blood curdling scream in the distance. The orchestrated voice of thousands of the dead. A brief glimpse into what Sam was sure the other side sounded like.

Sam realized dimly that his lips hadn't moved when he said it. And that - perhaps - was the scariest part of all of it.

His form wavered, before flickering out. Sam only had perhaps a fifteenth of a second to be surprised at his absence before Danny's face was less than an inch from hers, still upside down.

She wasn't sure if he had jumped the small distance or merely gone invisible while he moved - regardless she didn't care because all she was trying to do was scramble back, but his hand had a vice-like grip on her shoulder. Suddenly he was _very_ tangible. His white hair was still was defying all laws of physics, drifting slowly across her face as his eyes sharpened and narrowed determinedly.

"Danny-" She pleaded, going still against him as he drew close to her. "Stop. This isn't you."

His eyes were huge, only inches away from hers. Danny's usual bright humor and intelligence was gone. Replaced was a heavy lustful look. Sam was the cup of water to a man dying of dehydration.

"Danny?" She whispered as his fingers threaded into her hair. His head tilted still almost comically, like a dog. Curiously, he tugged the hair out of her ponytail and brought it up to his lips. With a shudder the green of his eyes flickered out. His glow and the moon's through the window were the only light sources in the room, and they were suddenly veiled as Danny pitched them into complete inescapable darkness. Her eyes widened trying to see - but it was as if a black bag had been put over her head. There was a sucking noise and the distant rushing sound crystalized and grew louder. It was screams - Sam realized - that rushing noise that always seemed to accompany Danny Phantom - it was the distant muddled sound of a billion screams.

Sam tried to scream herself. She tried her best, but no noise could come out. Danny was sucking all the air out of her lungs. His hands were still pinning her in place by her shoulders, sharp nails digging into her back. The room itself was devoid of oxygen. She was trapped. She thrashed, trying to punch out at him, but they passed right through. Frustration and terror filled her. There was no escape.

She didn't know what he was about to do with her, but she remembered this feeling. It had happened to her only once before, but Tucker was no longer here. Tucker couldn't be the one to break the spell. She was doomed. She felt her eyes brim with tears and she closed them, it didn't matter if they were open or closed, the effect was the same - a never ending black abyss. Although, she was certain that Danny's face would have been inches from hers. She was almost thankful she couldn't see, she didn't want to see her friend's face before he did whatever he was going to do to her.

And then, suddenly, the inescapable hand on her shoulder released her. Air filled her lungs again and she felt her body sag off the bed and sprawl across the floor. Her nose ground against the scratchy wool of the rug for about five seconds as she tried to get her bearings again.

She coughed and sputtered, crawling blindly away from whatever _thing_ had just had her. Whatever it was, it hadn't been Danny.

Strong hands grabbed her from underneath her shoulders and hoisted her up. She felt a raw scream erupt from her mouth as she scratched and clawed at it, certain that he had come back for her, but the hands were large and warm and not like that thing's had been at all.

"What the _hell_ were you thinking?!"

Nope- not it's voice either. Sam blinked back her tears, letting a few of them spill down her cheeks as her vision cleared. The room was once again bathed in the soft glow of the full moon outside. The air was breathable. The rushing noise had retreated to a dull hum, the ominous damper relieved. Even as she watched ice that had formed along the windowpane was melting as the temperature fluctuated. Her nose was pressed against a very soft night robe. The scent of expensive men's cologne assaulted her nose. The kind of cologne that refined men that shopped at Burberry wore. She had thought she was never going to smell again. The powerful stench of it would have repulsed her, but she clung to this person gratefully.

"Samantha." The deep voice sounded concerned, "Are you okay?"

Sam felt her head start to shake, her legs were jello still, terror was still making her elbows rattle and bump against her sides. Goosebumps were still raised along her bare arms.

"I'm-" She struggled for breath, her head spinning. Her terror started to fade from where it had been a pounding timpani against her eardrums leaving her woozy and disoriented.

"Sam?" A quieter voice asked. This voice was filled with the same amount of fear that she herself felt. It was a voice she recognized instantly. Danny's voice.

Suddenly the large warm hands pulled her away from the soft night robe and held her a foot apart from her savior. Sam realized who this was instantly, and like smelling salts, the revelation jolted her back into her senses.

"Vlad - I- I-" Sam struggled to find the words, still reeling from the shock of what had just happened. She felt as if someone had gifted her a powerful slap in the face.

Vlad's gaze was concerned, and angry. But, strangely enough, mostly concerned.

"_You_ are very stupid." He intoned seriously, "And very lucky."

"Danny-" Sam jolted, wrenching herself out of the older man's grasp. She grabbed onto the wall for support as she willed her legs to stop shaking before she looked back at the ceiling where the boy had been moments before, only to find it devoid of her ex. Her gaze drifted across to room to see him, slumped against the opposite wall and sitting on the floor like a normal human being. His green eyes were present, fixed on her, and turbulent with emotion.

Sam pushed herself off of the wall and made about three running strides to cross the room to be with him before Vlad grabbed her from behind and wrestled her back.

"Let me GO!" She screamed, twisting in his arms, "Let go of me!"

"I just saved your life, you ungrateful child." His voice rumbled in her ear.

"Danny-" Sam struggled again, but his voice made her stiffen and stop in her tracks.

"You have to go, Sam. You can't be here right now."

Her eyes flicked, shocked, up to meet his from across the room.

"What are you talking about?" She hissed, "_We_ have to go. _Together._"

Danny closed his eyes, a tortured expression settling on his face. He seemed to withdraw into himself. He shook his head lightly, unable to look at her.

"I'm _so sorry_, Sam."

The weight in the statement hit Sam in the chest as if he had punched her. It had been him - that _thing_ - had been him. He may not have been able to stop it, but his hand had been the one on her shoulder moments before. For a wild five minutes Sam had tried to convince herself that it had been something else - a monster instead. A doppelgänger. It wouldn't have been the first time. But there was too much emotion and knowing in Danny's tone to suggest otherwise.

"What is going on?" She asked weakly, "What's wrong-?" She almost said '_with you'_, but caught herself. Danny seemed to understand the implication though. He cringed as if she had slapped him. His hands twisted into themselves, the pale shine of the metal cuffs glinting in the moonlight. A sudden righteous anger spread through her, strengthening her resolve to believe the best in Danny.

"What did you do to him?!" Sam cried in raw outrage, her teeth baring as she spun away from Danny to face Vlad. It had to be Vlad's fault.

"_Nothing._ I'm trying to help him, silly girl." Vlad spat back, smoothing his hair back with the one hand that wasn't half-heartedly restraining Sam's arm, "Your lack trust of wounds me."

"Then what are those things on his wrists?" She fumbled at her waist for her gun, but met empty air. Vlad kicked something that was laying across the rug away from them both and the clatter of the blaster echoed across the wooden floor.

"They are his tether to this world."

"You mean they're trapping him." Sam countered.

"You know nothing." Vlad spat.

Sam's hand drew into a fist, prepared to punch.

"Stop it, both of you." Danny's voice too soft though, easily overpowered by the other two's sudden near-yelling match.

"You've always been obsessed with him!" She accused, "What? Couldn't make the perfect clone so you just had to handcuff him here?"

"Vlad don't-" Danny made a sudden movement to sit up from where he was slumped.

"Stupid-" Vlad muttered for a moment, his calm appearance shattering, if only for a brief moment as his teeth bared, eyes red, "Those _cuffs_ are the only thing that stopped you from being _eaten_ about five minutes ago."

Danny visibly flinched at Vlad's choice of vocabulary.

Sam felt the wind get let out of her lungs. Vlad let go of her arm, seeing the fight get sucked out of her.

"What-" She whispered. She waited for Danny to say something, to deny it, but he looked too tired to join in their fight.

"What do you mean?" Sam whirled upon Danny. She felt Vlad tense suddenly, prepared to grab her again should she try and move to him, but she didn't. _"What does he mean, Danny?"_ Her anger suddenly pivoted, and she was glaring at her ex-boyfriend across the room. "What haven't you been telling me? What is going on?"

He shook his head, her anger making him feel tiny in comparison. Guilt dug into him like a dry knife, twisting slowly, digging a deep cavern straight into his chest.

"What were you going to do to me?" She asked softly, "Eat me?"

Danny stilled as she stared at him, looking for any sign of betrayal. Any sign that he was lying to her. A rub of his neck, and twitch of his mouth, too fast blinking of his eyes. But he looked absolutely exhausted and remorseful.

"Not exactly how I would have described it." Danny managed out after a long moment, his dark humor peeking through despite the situation.

Sam felt like someone had taken ahold of the Moroccan rug and had yanked it out from underneath her. Like in the Sunday morning cartoons, she was perpetually hovering over the ground - in that heart-jolting moment just before falling.

"Why?" It was the only thing she could think of asking.

"This is not how I wanted this to go." Danny whispered brokenly. Sam could see now the way the cuffs were glowing around his pale wrists, the marks on his skin around them. The way he cradled them into his chest. They were hurting him. He leaned back against the wall, his head lolling as his eyes drifted tiredly. It looked like he hadn't slept in... years.

Vlad made a movement from behind her, attempting to place a hand on Sam's shoulder but she whacked it off as soon as it landed.

"Don't touch me." She hissed, stepping away from him - from both of them. She had never noticed until now the similarities, but Vlad had the same ominous humming that always surrounded Danny. They were, essentially, the same in many ways. Half ghost - half human. Although Danny had always insisted he wasn't half ghost, that he was something new entirely.

Vlad kept it contained under an air of cold indifference and aristocracy. His general mannerisms were more conducive to masking his aura. Danny was warm and emotive and good-natured. The polar opposite of what his aura would suggest.

"Samantha." Vlad said in a no-nonsense-kind-of-way, "You need to leave him alone."

Sam shook her head, turning to Danny to expect him to argue, to say he wanted her, to tell her this was all some sort of cruel joke. Maybe she would wake up and this would just be a nightmare. A very imaginative and terrifying nightmare. But his eyes were clenched shut as if he was battling internal demons, alone, in his own mind. He was no longer paying attention to them, his fingertips digging into the rug to root himself to the floor.

"I can't." She realized. Despite breaking up with him, despite hating him for brief periods of time. Despite being terrified of him, and despite what had just transpired, she _knew_ him. She _loved_ him. She knew he wouldn't want this. That he wouldn't have hurt her if he had been aware and in control. She had seen the way he had been around her barely a week before. The gentle loop of his arms around her waist. She had never felt so safe in her entire life than she had in his arms.

However, she could feel the soreness in her shoulder and the burn from where Phantom's claw had bit into her shoulder blade. Proof that Danny had, intentionally or not, hurt her. She felt her head start to spin again, torn, confused.

"He will still be here tomorrow."

Sam blinked.

"What?" She asked, "Tomorrow?"

"Of course." Vlad took her surprise as the opportunity he needed to steer her out of the room. "If you still want to see him, that is."

Sam allowed herself to be herded out of the room, stunned.

"I'm assuming your friend is moments away from calling the cavalry..." Vlad continued, "What's his name again? The child with the PDA sewn into his hand..?"

"...Tucker?" Sam felt herself answering as if in a dream, finding this whole situation rather unreal. Vlad continued as if they were talking casually about the weather.

"Ah yes - Tucker." Sam found herself getting pulled into a kitchen. There was a hiss and then the sound of water boiling. She wasn't sure how long she was sitting there, staring down at the mug of steaming tea in her hands as Vlad spoke to her despite the fact that she was despondent. The smell of chamomile was dulled in her nose.

And then - suddenly - Tucker was there, his arms wrapped around her.

"Sam!? Are you okay? What happened?" His voice was on edge.

But she had no words for what had happened. She still didn't want to believe it herself.

"She's in shock." Vlad intoned calmly. His voice sounded as if it were through a tunnel - tinny and weak, "Stay with her and get her to drink some of the tea. I have something else to check up on."

Sam was dimly aware the Vlad had left the two of them alone in his kitchen.

"Sam? You're really freaking me out right now. Please say something. What is going on? Did you find Danny? Is he okay? Are _you_ okay?_ What did Vlad do_?" Tucker's face swam into her vision as he sat down next to her, grabbing her shaking hands and warming them with his own. He was the radiant sun compared to her brittle ice. "You're hands are freezing." He mumbled.

Tucker helped her put down some of the tea. It seemed to thaw her from the inside out. They sat together in silence for an indefinite amount of time with nothing other than the soft ticking of the clock to mark the passage of minutes and hours.

"Saved me." She managed, finally. Answering Tucker's question after about twenty minutes of silence. Her voice sounded hoarse and small.

"What?" Tucker asked, relieved she had said responded, although not entirely sure she was making sense.

"Vlad." Sam clarified, "He saved me. From Danny."

"What are you talking about?" Tucker grabbed her hands and rubbed them encouragingly as Sam started to get her bearings again, processing all that had happened tonight. The dried tear tracks on her cheeks made them feel stiff when she spoke.

"Danny was..." She couldn't finish the sentence, "He didn't mean to. He _didn't_- but he almost-"

"He attacked you?" Tucker prompted.

Not exactly, but Sam nodded her head.

"I love him." Sam stated, her voice sounded sure and steady, admitting this for the first time out loud even though she still hardly believed it herself. Tucker blinked, not following the thread at all. Danny had attempted to attack Sam, and now Sam was saying she loved him?

"Sam - What?" Tucker was at a loss for words for a moment, but the color in Sam's face was returning and she took her first sip of tea on her own accordance, holding the mug steadily. She plucked her hands out of Tuckers and straightened her posture.

"He didn't mean to." She was certain of this, "He's sick. He's been hiding it for a while."

"Sam, I don't-" Tucker trailed off.

Sam placed her mug down onto the designer table. The porcelain making a soft click against the marble.

"I found Danny upstairs. He was like he was right after the accident. I tried to get him to snap out of it, but he was lost. He-" Sam took in a sharp breath, "He tried to grab me, but Vlad came and stopped him. Vlad has these cuffs on him. They must shock Danny out of it. Vlad must have activated them or something...I don't know exactly how they work actually... I don't really remember... it was so dark..." Sam trailed off, not remembering exactly how Vlad had stopped that _thing_ from killing her.

Tucker remained silent, his eyes serious, anger was slowly building in them.

"Afterwards Danny was himself again - at least - he knew who I was." Sam didn't mention how that thing had technically know who she was too - the sound of it saying her name would give her nightmares for weeks. "Vlad said we couldn't be near him tonight. He said we could talk to him tomorrow."

"Sam, what was Danny trying to do to you?" Tucker whispered dangerously. Sam blinked and gazed up at him, following his train of thought quickly.

"No!" She denied, "He would _never_ do that. That wasn't what he - _it_ - wanted."

"I had to ask." Tucker said, "When Vlad first took me to you..." He trailed off.

"I'm fine." Sam straightened her shirt, almost blushing at the implication Tucker had leveled against Danny, "Danny just freaked me out, that's all."

Tucker watcher her seriously, knowing that from this point on Sam would attempt to act like whatever had happened tonight wasn't a big deal. But, Tucker had seen her shaken into absolute silence. He had never seen Sam as unnerved as he had tonight. She was usually the rock between the two of them. Hell, the girl watched horror films to cheer herself up.

"I don't want you around him tomorrow." Tucker stated.

Sam felt her hands start to tremble again.

"What?" She hissed, rebellion coiling within her as an immediate response to an order.

"Both times he's ever done this, he's done it to you." Tucker continued, before Sam had a moment to argue, "He attacked you. You're still shaking. Regardless if he meant to or not. _I want to talk to him._"

Sam could feel the anger bubbling off of Tucker. She could feel the impending verbal lashing Tucker was going to give Danny tomorrow as easily as if he was giving it to her now.

"He already feels terrible."

"He should." Tucker spat.

Sam was too tired to try and convince Tucker otherwise. Her eyes drooped slowly as the chamomile and the crash of adrenaline made a wave of exhaustion flood through her. There was a soft noise and she looked up to see Vlad silently gliding back into the kitchen. The man gave the pair of them a bored look.

"I suppose you'll be staying the night." He intoned, "Although when my house became a bed and breakfast for misfits I do not know."

* * *

_tbc..._

* * *

**A/N:** Updates might come a little bit slower than once a week from now on. I have the main trajectory for this story along with the concepts, but a billion ideas for how it should all go down. I keep writing and re-rewriting the next few sections to try and get them perfect but they don't feel quite right yet.


	10. Interlude Two

_Interlude Two: Dash Baxter for dessert._

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**Danny, a year and a half after the accident.**

* * *

_Ghosts exist in a separate plane from humans. The cannot step into our world. They live in a shadow of our world. That's why we've never seen one. They are trapped there - in between here and there._

So then, what did that make me?

I had been asking myself this question for over a year and a half now. I was not fully convinced I was a ghost - or a human. Not anymore. Sam and Tucker were certain that I was half of each.

This past year had been an intense exercise in self-control. There's parts of me that are more primal, that don't use logic based in any sort of human realm. These darker parts of me I didn't yet fully understand, nor did I want to understand as they scared even myself. Instead, I had learned how to manage the more disturbing parts of my condition. For the first few months things had been rough. I had been forced to not only learn how to control some of the more outward powers - like the energy blasts and the invisibility, but also to control the darker... urges. There was another passenger that had taken root in my mind. Not a sentiment being, more of an addiction.

Quickly, I learned that I needed to be around people if I wanted to stay sane. That it wasn't just that I could smell people's intentions and emotions - I needed them to keep some measure of the humanity I had left. I only took what I knew I needed. And really, I only needed Sam and Tucker. Together they were enough to keep the headaches and withdrawals at bay. Perhaps it was their inherent trust in me, or the fact that they had been the two present at the time of the accident, but they were the two people I felt the strongest bond with. I wasn't sure if I could ever tell them I needed them in this way - if they would be disgusted and betrayed to know that on some level I fed off of them. Never enough to hurt them, or to even fatigue them. Never enough that they would even notice.

Not like Spectra had done two days ago - although I was certain I was capable of that. Everything had been going along swimmingly, until Spectra had shown up. For some reason that I had not yet figured out, spirits had started to manifest themselves in the physical world. It was something that my mother had told me wasn't possible. My parents had come to the conclusion that in order for spirits to walk in the human world they would need some way to traverse between the two – a portal. Of course, their own Fenton Portal would do the trick. It was now humming along just fine in our basement. But even then ghosts had no physical form. Unlike me, who still had a body, the malignant spirits that had started to haunt Amity Park had to possess a human in order to cause real havoc.

Most of the ghosts were easily taken down and their hosts recovered. Usually they would just exhibit symptoms of a really bad cold, or mono for a week or two. In reality their life forces had been sapped to dangerously low levels, but they always bounced back. Such was human perseverance. Spectra, however, had taken upon my own feeding grounds and had possessed the school councilor Mary Hills. Mrs. Hills was still in the hospital in a coma from the attack.

This obsession with owning things - another symptom of the incident - I couldn't quite yet explain. Already I had marked certain areas as mine. The school. My house. My family. Sam. Regardless, Spectra had drained the entire student population - and councilor Mary Hills - of life before I had even realized what was going on. Spectra had been smart - preying on me through use of my sister, covering her unnatural aura by twisting my thoughts until I couldn't think straight, and dipping the temperature of her office so my sense was nothing more than an occasional shiver. I was still reeling from all she had said to me, of all the doubts she had convinced me of.

"-you paying attention, Mr. Fenton?"

I blinked, looking up at a looming Mr. Lancer. His disappointment wafted off of him. It hit me in the face like a falling piano.

"Yeah. Sorry." I mumbled, looking down at my empty notebook. I hadn't even attempted to take notes. My grades had slipped drastically. Between the ghost attacks, trying to control these new instincts, and keep up appearances at home, school had dropped to the bottom of my priorities. I could feel Lancer's concern for me as if it were my own. Oftentimes my emotions got crossed, blurred, until I wasn't sure if I was feeling concerned or Lancer was feeling concerned. I constantly found myself trapped in the mood swings of my peers.

"You look a little pale." Lancer mumbled, leaning down to peer at me. I flinched as his face got close to mine and I felt some foreign part of me coil defensively, but I quelled it back. I let out a slow breath, refusing to look into Lancer's face. Whatever this part of me was, it didn't play by human rules and it made no sense. It was purely reactionary and right now it was barely not starving. I refused to allow it to surface fully - not after what I had almost done to Sam the night of the accident. Especially not now that I had seen first hand what kind of damage Spectra had caused. What kind of damage I could cause if I wasn't careful.

Today was worse for me than most days. Most days Tucker and Sam had enough life to sustain me from craving any more. But, the two were still recovering from Spectra's recent attack. I was too afraid to take my usual fill as they too, like me, had been victims of Spectra's 'therapy'. Tucker still was barely eating and Sam's face was almost translucent in its pallor. It would take them at least a week or two to get their bearings again. I was uncertain if I could wait that long.

The only people that Spectra hadn't quite gotten ahold of was the faculty. Lancer was still brimming with life. Already I could feel the other part of me reeling at the idea of grabbing Lancer and just taking what it wanted. I felt my gaze glaze over as the entire classroom started to fade in color.

Suddenly Sam's hand was on mine, and she squeezed it tightly. I blinked a few times to shake off the transition.

"-look so good."

"I think he needs to go home. I'll walk him to the nurse." Sam was saying. My gaze was fixated on Lancer's face. I wasn't sure when I had looked up, staring at him, but I felt a sudden wave of unease roll off of him. It was the feeling I gave people more and more often. I tried to hide it - the glimpses that I wasn't entirely human anymore - but sometimes it slipped. Lancer wasn't sure what was off about the moment, but humans had certain amounts of self-preservation in them. They recognized a fight-or-flight moment, the presence of a predator, even if logically it made no sense.

"Danny." Sam yanked my hand and I took in a sharp breath, forcing myself to look at her. She grounded me, giving me a small smile, "Let's go."

As we made our way out of the classroom I pressed my hand to my chest to make sure my heart was still beating.

"Are you okay?" She asked me softly.

"Yeah, sorry."

"It looked like you were in another world there for a moment."

"I just haven't been feeling totally great since Spectra..." I trailed off. I knew I was starving, technically, but I was unwilling to stoop to her level. Spectra had taken whatever reserves I had hoarded over the past year from me. I had felt first hand what the result of my leeching felt like. Only, where Sam and Tucker just got pissy and tired, the after effects of Spectra leeching off me were way more dangerous to everyone around me. Already the control I had fought and practiced so desperately to wrangle for the past year was unraveling like a half-knitted sweater. All of my hard work, wasted in tangled yarn on the floor.

I swallowed, my throat dry as I leaned in closer to Sam, inhaling her scent. However weak it was, it was intoxicating.

"Maybe you should just go home. You know, sleep it off."

I knew for a fact if I fell asleep I would relinquish control. I would find myself in the in-between with no path back until I had gotten my fix.

"Sure. I'm fine, Sam. You don't have to walk me all the way to the nurse."

"I don't mind." She smiled.

"Seriously - who's going to give me those notes if we're both not in class?" _Please get away from me before I do something I regret._

She gave me a long, hard look, before she nodded and reached up around my shoulders, giving them a small squeeze.

"Alright, but call me later, okay?"

I watched her retreating form for a long moment before I ran a shaky hand through my hair. I took a few steps towards the nurse's office, but instead hooked a left and entered the men's bathroom.

It was devoid of anyone - thank god.

I leaned heavily into the sink as I struggled to rid myself of the memory of Lancer's smell. I shook my head several times as if that would help me forget about it, to squash the urge to go ghost and haunt him down. My mouth watered for a long moment, my hands shaking in front of me. I tried pinching at my skin to snap myself out of this train of thought but already it was spiraling out of my control. I felt like I was rocketing deep down a dark cavern with no hope of finding my way back. I wasn't sure how long I was standing there, hands gripping the sink as my muscles trembled, but the sound of a door and a voice broke me out of my concentration.

"Fen_toad._ You don't look so good... You gunna puke?"

When I opened my eyes I saw my own reflection - face pale and gaunt, skinny as a twig, my hair disheveled, eyes a dangerous glowing green. They flicked away from myself to Dash. He should be running, fleeing, if he had any ounce of sense in him. But of course Dash Baxter had no reality of when he was no longer the most dangerous person in the room.

Of course, I didn't look like much of a predator. I weighed a good thirty to thirty-five pounds less than him right now thanks to the fact that human food no longer tasted as appealing. I was shaking, visibly. My teeth were rattling in my mouth, but not from weakness - from the sheer amount of effort it took to not go on the attack.

"Dash, you need to leave." I managed out.

"Oh really?" He took my order as a challenge, rather than a warning. One eyebrow raised. He was wearing his football jersey and there were grass stains on his knees. I could feel the adrenaline rushing off of him. I could read him like an open book. He had been in PE moments before, he had been playing dodgeball. He had smashed at least three different kids - one of them was in the nurse's office right now with a broken finger. He thought he was invincible. His cockiness and vitality was too much for me, rolling off of him in waves like a powerful cologne.

Dash grinned crookedly at me, cracking his knuckles one by one, "I'm not likin' your tone. You gunna make me?"

I watched helplessly as the bathroom started to fade around me into wisps and the ringing noise began from somewhere in the back of my head. The thing - whatever it was because I refused to believe it was a part of me - started to stir again to the challenge in Dash's voice. My head tilted as I took in a deep inhale, feeling all of that masculine arrogance and bravado rush through me.

I shouldn't have smelled him. I clenched my rapidly dilating eyes shut, grinding my teeth together, barely hearing him over the rushing noise as Dash grabbed me by my shirt and rammed me into the wall. My body grated against the cement, but it felt surreal - transcendent.

"-I'm talking to you, wimp." He growled at me, "You gunna make me or what? You weigh like ninety pounds. You bulimic or somethin? That why you're always in the bathroom all the time?'"

"Dash-" I whispered weakly, my eyes still screwed shut, "Please. _Please_ just leave me alone."

His laugh was dessert.

"That's better, Fentonia. I like it when you beg. But I'm not going to forget what you said earlier. You ain't ever gunna tell me what to do, _capesh_?"

I bit my tongue to stop myself from correcting his grammar - a habit that usually only resulted in a beating afterwards. Of course, whether or not I was a sarcastic brat to Dash didn't matter. He was already punching me in the stomach, but it didn't hurt. I opened my eyes as he reeled his arm back, moving to hit me in the face next.

"I warned you." I said. His fist sailed through my head and into the wall behind us.

Dash paused, confusion flickering across his face. But if he was going to rethink beating me up it was already too late. When I had opened my eyes I had found myself in black and white photo negative of the in-between. We were inverted and hanging upside down. Already I could see the vestiges of lesser spirits hovering around us as dark blobs, moving in and out of space. They didn't bother me anymore. They were too weak to cross between realms and cause any real trouble.

Only Dash's reflection was in the mirror; it looked like he was grasping thin air.

I reached up and grabbed Baxter by the chin, tightly. He was a white trembling cloud, an undefined outline of a human being. I had realized early on that when I was in this world what I saw was human spirit. Their humanity; their life force. They were bright light, while ghouls, demons, and spirits were dark shadow. I myself was neither light nor shadow, but in the grey. Since I couldn't see myself in mirrors I had no real notion of what I looked like in this world besides what I saw when I looked at my hands and legs and what Sam and Tucker described. All photos the press had managed to take of Phantom were mysteriously and conveniently blurry. My white gloved hand was keeping his trembling chin inches from my lips.

"I asked you to leave me alone." I told him, my voice echoing oddly around the bathroom. It reverberated for eons, infinitely, into the distance. Dash's terror was delicious. My grip tightened on his chin, despite him trying to claw his way out, fingers passing through me ineffectively, "Why didn't you just _leave me alone? _Why don't you ever_ leave me alone?"_

Dash was saying something, but it was hard to make out. Dialogue from the human world to this one oftentimes got lost in translation. I had no real control anymore. I was too starved. Spectra had sapped me of what I needed to stay firmly put in the physical world. Without my reserves it was only a matter of time before I lost all trails back to my humanity. My physical body usually was enough to anchor me, but only with the supplementation of Sam and Tucker's unwavering faith.

I felt the power that I knew I locked inside start to rush forward despite my attempts to keep it in. Dash tried to scream, but I covered his mouth with my hand, my lips a mere inch from his, almost kissing the back of my own hand as I inhaled in one powerful gasp more than I had ever dared to take from another human being. I couldn't stop myself, it was addicting. I was an addict, taking a hit after attempting cold turkey sobriety. Dreamily I felt my lips peel back as I moved in to lock my lips against his - to take the best part: the heart. However I seemed to realize exactly what I was doing when Dash's light flickered and he went limp in my grasp. Even after he collapsed in my hands it took me a long moment to regain control. And when I did I felt the world pitch right side up and I fell onto the bathroom tile, heart thudding rapidly in my ears. It was freezing. There was a water drop frozen mid-drip in the faucet.

With a terrified noise I ripped my hand off of his pale face. His eyes were half lidded and for a horrifying heart-stopping moment I was certain I had killed him.

"No-" I whispered, eyes wide. I pulled myself up and scrambled at his neck for a pulse, feeling it there, weak, "No, no, no..."

I locked the bathroom door and wrapped my arms around myself as I paced, panicked, ignoring how the light in the bathroom flickered out and plunged us in darkness. Anger flooded through me, desperation, and fear. Lots of fear. Fear that I could have killed him - that I might have killed him. Would he wake up? Would he ever be the same? I didn't even know what I had done to him or how to fix it.

The place where he had punched me should have hurt. In fact, the limp I had had ever since fighting Spectra was gone. I looked at myself in the mirror. My face was flushed, my eyes bright. I even seemed to have more weight on my bones. All of this only served to make me feel even more miserable. I had taken all of this life from someone else. It wasn't mine. How did I put it back? Was that even possible?

_Do you want to?_ A voice whispered conspiratorially from within.

I turned away from the mirror and hoisted Dash up by his armpits, heaving him against the bathroom wall. He was heavy, but I was strong.

Quickly I wetted a towel with freezing cold water and slapped him across the face several times. He looked grey and dull. Almost like he belonged in the ghost-world. I had almost put him there, I realized, with a sharp pang of guilt. It didn't matter that he was a bully. I had hurt someone. I hadn't meant to - but I had lost control and really, truly, hurt someone.

Dash started to reanimate, swatting lethargically at the washcloth like it was a fly.

"The fu-" He mumbled, "What happened?"

"Dash?" I kneeled down in front of his face. He didn't flinch away from me, instead he looked confused and disoriented.

"...Fenton? ...What?"

"How do you feel?" I placed the cold washcloth behind his neck.

"Like crap." He grated out.

"What do you remember?" I asked, anxiously. Did he see me? Did he see my other form? Did he see Phantom? Did he remember my grip on his chin? The way I had pinned him in my grasp?

"I remember..." He struggled, peering up into my face. It seemed to trigger some recollection, "I remember going to the bathroom and seeing you. Teasing you. Then.. I must have passed out?" I felt myself sag with relief. The lights flickered back on and the roaring noise receded to a dull hum. He seemed alive and himself. Tired, but alive and he had no memory of what happened. Which, was good - for him and for me.

"You keeled over." I lied. I dug around in my backpack, grabbing a candy bar and unwrapping it. I wasn't sure if getting his blood sugar up would help, considering that wasn't really the problem. It couldn't hurt, however.

"Eat this." I tossed him my water bottle, "Drink this. I'm going to go get the nurse. Don't get up. Stay right here."

His eyes had already drifted half-shut again, not listening. I vaulted myself from the bathroom, the door slamming shut behind me as I found myself in an empty hallway. The temptation to run far far away overtook me. To flee and never come back. I could leave right now and no one would ever know what happened. No one would ever find out the truth of what I had done, of what I was capable of doing. I would never have to face what had just happened - what had almost happened. I had nearly _killed_ him.

"Tucker was wrong." I whispered to myself, "I'm not so sure I can be the hero." Not anymore.

* * *

_tbc.._


	11. Chapter 9

_Chapter Nine: A Certain Sacrifice_

* * *

Tucker hadn't slept. It was impossible to. He was in his best friend's archenemy's mansion. His best friend that had allegedly attacked his _other_ best friend.

Tucker wrinkled his nose as he looked across the room blearily. Even without his glasses on the decor in this room was creepy. Mid-century paintings watched him curiously against intricately twisting sickly yellow wallpaper.

The window to his left was slowly changing in color as the sun began to peek out, rays curling through the shades and bathing the room in the glow of morning. Thank god, Tucker thought to himself. He was sure he was going to drive himself crazy if he had to wait another few hours to figure out this whole mess and get the hell out of here. He sat up in the bed, grabbing his glasses from the side table and looked across at Sam who was curled against him, asleep, face tucked into a pillow. Despite all that had happened to her she had fallen asleep immediately, drained, and had barely moved throughout the night.

Frowning, Tucker realized he had to pee, but he didn't want to get out of the bed for fear of waking her. She had been a mess last night. He had thought for one terrifying moment, that Vlad had done something unspeakable to her. Even in her sleep her brows were furrowed, troubled. Almost all her goth makeup had run down her cheeks and she looked years younger and more vulnerable without the mask.

Tucker always had been protective of her, but he had never thought that he would be protecting her from Danny.

Maybe she was wrong. Maybe Danny hadn't attacked her at all. Danny would never purposely hurt Sam - he loved Sam, even though he had never admitted it. Vlad had to be doing something to him, keeping him here. The older hybrid had always had a weird obsession with Danny. Tucker shivered, remembering all the clones he had made of Danny years before. Sam had mentioned cuffs - that had to be it.

A soft beeping noise steadily grew louder as Tucker's PDA went off. 8:00AM alarm resounding through the room.

There was a soft dejected moan from his right as Sam began to wake up. She shifted sleepily, curling a pale arm around Tucker's middle. He froze, breath catching in his chest as he felt her bare leg intertwine with his, moving up to his waist, pressing insistently... Tucker had never blushed so much in his entire life.

"Danny?" She murmured, eyes still closed, her lips pressing into his shoulder. Tucker felt like a bucket of ice water had been poured over his head.

"Not Danny, Sam. I'm not- If you'd just... get off...my bladder..." Tucker squeaked, prying her off of him, "Gotta pee. Bye."

He shot out of the bed and into the adjoining bathroom breathing heavily and a little grossed out to be honest. He felt like he had been violated by a cousin. With a shiver he relieved himself and washed his hands, pausing at the door to hear if Sam had woken all the way up or not. After everything, after all their ups and downs, after Danny had moved as far away as possible and had ignored them, after last night, she still assumed she was in bed next to him?

"Tucker?" Sam's voice was tinged with embarrassment, "You can come out. I'm not going to molest you."

Tucker pushed open the door. Sam was already out of bed, brushing her hair with her fingers and rubbing the rest of her mascara from where it had dried in her tears the night before. She glanced at him and blushed.

"Sorry." She shook her head.

"That never happened." Tucker said, grabbing his pants and pulling them on awkwardly, "Valerie never hears a word about this. Or Danny." Tucker shuddered to think of what Danny's reaction would be. Danny had always been fiercely possessive of Sam. During Sam's week long stint with Gregor he had all but stalked them, violence thrumming in his eyes. Tucker was convinced that it had taken every ounce of self control for Danny to stop himself from ripping Gregor apart.

"What happened?" Sam asked lightly, pulling her hair up into its usual half updo, "I don't know what you're talking about."

She looked just as mortified as him. Tucker nodded approvingly, grabbing his beret and putting it over his head to hide the perpetual hat hair.. He watched her fuss with her hair, seeing something on her shoulder.

"What is that?" Tucker mumbled.

"Huh?" Sam looked over at him.

"Your shoulder."

Tucker brushed his fingers lightly across the bruised skin. There were four deep crescent circle marks where blood was already scabbing - fingernail marks.

"Did he do this?" Tucker asked dangerously, glasses flashing.

"Tucker. I need to seem him." Sam turned away from him, hands on her hips. She let her hair down the rest of the way, giving up and hiding the marks.

"Not until I do."

"But you don't understand-"

Tucker cut her off.

"No, Sam. I think if Danny were here right now he'd agree with me."

* * *

Breakfast had been surreal.

This is the weirdest meal I've ever had, Sam thought to herself, looking up from her oatmeal at Vlad who was glaring at the pair of them from across his expansive dining table.

"Did you two sleep well?" He asked awkwardly, clearly not sure what to say in situations such as this. Sam felt Tucker tense next to her. They were both confused. Why the hell was Vlad letting them stay in his place? Why was he feeding them? After all, if he had kidnapped Danny why should he be treating them this way when all they wanted to do was break Danny out of here and leave?

"Seems like it will be a bit nicer out today." He continued. Tucker's mouth dropped open. Were they really talking about the _weather? _"It has been strangely stormy lately." Vlad continued, chuckling to himself like he had said an amusing joke.

Sam's eyes were daggers, her grip tightened around her fork.

"Why are you being so god damn nice?" She hissed.

"That's no way to speak to your host." Vlad hummed.

"Why aren't you eating?" Sam realized suddenly, eyes clearing. Tucker felt his face drain as he pushed away his plate. Sam was right. Vlad hadn't taken a bite the entire time. He had simply watched them with creepy blue eyes while they devoured the meal set before them.

"Poisoned?" Sam breathed. She stared down at her barely touched oatmeal.

"You bore me." Vlad sighed dramatically, "Obviously I don't want you dead. If I did I could have killed you a multitude of different ways before the sun even came up. I already ate."

Sam and Tucker thought about this. He was right. He could have killed them.

"Why haven't you?" Sam wondered.

"Is it really so far-fetched to believe that I'm trying to help?" The older man asked, nose wrinkling as he watched Tucker go back to eating his eggs with gusto.

"Help with what?" Tucker grated, mouth full.

"I want to see Danny." Sam interrupted.

Vlad rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I know. You've said nothing else since waking up. Again, you bore me. How young Daniel puts up with you is beyond me."

Sam's teeth gritted in anger, but she bit her tongue. After all, they were in his house - his rules. At least, until they freed Danny.

"You do know that Daniel came to me on his own accord?"

"Yeah, but why?" Tucker intoned.

Sam's lips tightened.

She hadn't told Tucker all of the truth. At least, not the part about Danny being a portal. She had assumed that Danny would be in Amity Park, waiting for him, like he said he would, and Danny would have told Tucker himself. Danny was never late. He had promised. And he had always kept his promises. That's why Sam was convinced that somehow Vlad was the problem here. Danny might have come to Vlad, but Vlad had refused to let him leave.

"I see one of you is confused." Vlad turned to Tucker, "Let me _inform you,_ then. Daniel came to me asking for my _help._"

"He came looking for answers, about the portal." Sam spun on Vlad, eyes flashing, "If all he wanted to do was ask a few questions why is he locked up?"

Tucker was looking at Sam in confusion.

"What about the ghost portal?" He asked her.

"Ghost portal?" Vlad asked, giving her a blank look, before he threw his head back and laughed. The force of it made Tucker's fork vibrate in his hand and he let it drop with a clatter onto the plate. The laugh echoed around the room making the two of them wince, fear shooting through them. Vlad seemed to sense this, but instead of trying to reverse what he had done he merely pressed forward, narrowing glowing eyes and letting the lighting dim as all the color started to get sapped from around them. Sam felt Tucker's hand suddenly grasp her arm underneath the table protectively as all the joy was vacuumed out of the kitchen.

"Stupid humans." Vlad all but purred, looking very much like his puffed up cat in that moment, "He's a good liar, but a terrible actor. Why don't you go talk to him yourself. I'm sure he's awake by now."

The hybrid served up another plate of eggs and let it clatter loudly onto the table, making Sam and Tucker jump, spooked.

"Take that. He'll be _hungry."_ The word curled off of his tongue with a sinister tone. Tucker hesitated, pulling Sam into him. He didn't want to leave her here with this _thing._

Vlad seemed to read his mind. He heaved a gigantic sigh and the lights flicked back on. In the distance birds began to hesitantly chirp outside again, after having been scared into silence. Vlad felt old. Really old to be dealing with these foolish children. He only put up with it because he was a bit terrified of what Daniel would do to him should he harm them- especially the girl.

"You need not worry." He mumbled, turning his back on the two, "I will not harm her in your absence. I have other things I need to tend to. Besides, Daniel wouldn't be very happy if I touched a hair on her head."

Tucker watched as Vlad silently glided out of the room leaving the two of them alone, shaken.

"I'll be fine, Tuck." Sam whispered. Despite the fact that she knew Vlad could kill her if he wanted to, she believed the older man. He wasn't going to harm her. After all - he had saved her the night before. "He'll leave me alone. Go do what you need to do so we can get out of here."

Tucker nodded reluctantly, grabbing the plate of food before taking off down the mansion to the main foyer and up the stairs to the third story. Sam hadn't told him which room Danny was in. Just that he was on the third floor. But, she didn't have to. Tucker could feel Danny's aura leaking from the room at the far end. This place gave him the creeps. More than any hospital he had ever been in. And that was saying something.

His grip tightened on the plate of breakfast as he pressed his hand to the doorknob - thinking better of it - knocking instead.

There was a soft shuffle.

"Tucker?" Danny's voice wafted through. The door's lock gave a soft click. Tucker took that as permission to let himself in.

The room itself was dark. Almost like someone had put a layer of thick black paint over everything. And it was cold. Tucker shivered despite himself, feeling the warm plate in his hand in sharp comparison. Through the window the world was bright and happy, but the sound of birds and morning were dulled and muted within the confines of the bedroom.

Danny's things were scattered near the dresser. Tucker stepped over them looking at the bed where his best friend was watching him warily. Tucker realized dimly that Danny had somehow unlocked the door without getting up from the bed, that he had known it was him without Tucker even telling him. He refused to let that unsettle him though. Instead he pressed forward, shutting the door and walking to the side of the bed.

"Breakfast." He stated, temporarily at a loss for words.

"Thanks." Danny mumbled, grabbing the plate from his hands. Tucker caught the flash of silver around his wrist in the exchange, barely visible underneath Danny's pajamas.

Tucker pulled a chair up next to him and sat down, watching as Danny picked disinterestedly at the food.

"Tucker- How did you..? Why are you here?" Danny started, stopping, trying to find words. He shook his head though, "Nevermind. Doesn't matter."

Sam was right, he looked pretty miserable. And sick. There was a sheen of sweat on his forehead. His eyes were bright, shifting between green flashes and dull blue, and his hands shook as he tried to hold the fork steady while it pushed eggs from one side of the plate to the other. "I know you're really really pissed at me." Danny whispered, "And you should be. After..."

Tucker took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes, feeling a lot of his anger temporarily turning to concern. Danny looked... broken. It was unnerving. Tucker pinched the bridge of his nose for a long moment and swallowed the urge to yell at Danny. Yelling at him would feel like kicking a downed puppy.

"What happened to you?" He asked, not sure what else there was to ask.

Danny gave him a small crooked smile. It didn't quite reach its full potential before it fell off of his face.

"You'll have to be a bit more specific, Tuck." He told him, rubbing at his wrist as he watched his eggs intensely as if they were about to escape in order to avoid facing the disappointment and righteous fury on Tucker's face.

Tucker watched as Danny's fingers clenched around the fork in his hand and he glanced sidelong over at him.

"How's...How's Sam?"

* * *

Sam remained in the kitchen for a while after Tucker left, before she frowned and pushed herself away from the table. Despite what Tucker and Danny liked to believe, Sam wasn't fragile. Sure, Danny had freaked her out last night, but she wasn't afraid anymore. Certainly not of Vlad Masters. For some reason the older hybrid was helping them, and Sam was convinced it wasn't out of the goodness of his own heart.

She took off down the long hallway where the man had left. If Danny wasn't going to give her the answers she wanted, she sure as hell was going to try and get them from a different source. Hurt was raw in her chest at the notion that Danny would have confided in his archenemy before his friends and family.

"Vlad." She called out to his retreating back, watching as he paused and gave her a sideways glance. She breathed in a small bit of air before she gathered up enough courage to ask, "What would Danny do to you if you hurt a hair on my head?"

It was the one thing that had stuck out to her during breakfast. The way in which Vlad seemed to behave whenever Danny was brought up. Almost like he was... Sam gazed at the other's stance, seeing him favoring his left leg heavily. Danny and Vlad. There had been an altercation. Of course - Sam wasn't surprised. Put them in a room for less than three seconds and they were suddenly at each other's throats, battling with the kind of intense bravado that only males possessed. But it looked like Vlad had come out of their fight a lot worse off than Danny did. Besides the cuffs on his wrists Danny hadn't had a single cut or bruise on him - at least from what Sam had seen.

"Why don't you ask your boyfriend?" Vlad murmured dryly.

"He's not my boyfriend." Sam said instantly, a knee-jerk reaction.

"Hmm." Vlad peered at her as though she was suddenly more interesting. Sam fidgeted a little bit under the weight of his gaze. Vlad then turned away from her and continued walking down the hallway.

Sam frowned. He wasn't going to get away that easily.

She followed behind him, shadowing him into his atrium at the far end of the estate as the other slowly started to tend to his rose bushes. Sam couldn't help but feel a tinge of amusement as she watched the man care for flowers with delicacy.

"So?" She asked, getting no response. Her eyes narrowed as she watched his back. He was definitely favoring his left leg. His right one was stiff and he walked with a slight limp. Sam crossed her arms and sat down on the rusting metal stool next to the door, blocking his escape back into the mansion. "I'm not leaving until you give me some answers." She intoned.

"Dear lord, girl." Vlad sighed, pausing from his clippings, "You really _are_ annoying. Like a fruit fly or a gnat."

"Insulting me won't make me leave." Sam told him.

"Obviously."

There was another long period of silence, punctuated only by the sound of the garden shears.

"So." Sam said after a while, "Danny hurt your leg pretty bad, huh?"

Vlad's fingers paused for a moment and he turned to look at her with narrowed eyes. Sam shrugged innocently and looked up at the top of the atrium for a moment before looking back down at him.

"Is that why you put him in the cuffs?" She continued.

"Your faith in him is _astounding._" Vlad said dryly. Sam frowned, churning that around in her head.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I can't decide if you're brave or absolutely stupid. But I'm starting to lean towards the second. After all, what girl hangs around to stick up for an ex-boyfriend that attacked her not twelve hours ago?"

Sam bristled.

"That wasn't Danny. He would never do that intentionally. And we're still friends."

Vlad sighed, placing the shears down.

"Seems you two _are_ perfect for each other. Too blind to notice you're both drowning in your own denial. You are part of the problem."

"What problem?" Sam asked, trying her best not to get goaded, but feeling a flicker of irritation lace her tone.

There was a brilliant flash and black rings appeared around the other's waist. Sam winced, knowing what was going to happen moments before it did, but she clung to her bravery and instead of looking away she watched as Vlad morphed into Plasmius and all the happiness and life was sucked out of the atrium. She couldn't help but tremble as he glided up to her, inches away. Instead of Danny's cold, Plasmius radiated heat, making beads of sweat gather and drip uncomfortably down the nape of her neck. She looked down to see that his right leg was oozing ectoplasm, shredded down the side gruesomely. Her eyes widened as she stared at it. Danny had done that?

"His problem." Plasmius said, his voice resounding. The dull humming noise that surrounded both Danny and Vlad had sharpened and Sam could hear the screams, echoing, around the atrium. Now that she knew what to listen for, she heard them all the more clearly. It sounded like someone had recorded the last few seconds of every single death that had ever occurred and played them all at once on repeat. Hundreds of moans, gasps, and high-pitched blood-curdling screams. She could even pick out the _'please - don't kill me's'_ like ghastly whispers that clung off Plasmius's form. She watched the roses behind him wither and wilt, drying up into dust as all the water was sapped out of the room by Plasmius's ungodly heat.

"Look at me, girl." Plasmius ordered.

Sam wrenched her gaze away from the flora and into his glowing red eyes. She forced herself to stare back at him, feeling her heart pounding, vibrating in her chest. He wouldn't hurt her. She reminded herself of that to keep from bolting. She tried to remember Jack and Maddie, chortling over the memory of Vlad passed out naked in a college dorm room. Anything to keep her from being afraid of this thing.

Vlad's eyes pierced into hers and she felt naked, exposed, like he was looking straight into her soul. Be brave, she reminded herself.

"This is what I am." He told her, voice hard to understand completely as it was twisted and demonic, "I've accepted that. I'm even proud of it. Daniel, on the other hand..."

Sam felt her brow furrow in confusion.

"Daniel and I are mirror reflections of one another." Plasmius continued, "We share in everything that comes with being part undead."

"Undead?" Sam repeated, watching with a bit of relief as Plasmius changed back and Vlad's tired blue eyes were gazing into her own. "What do you mean undead? You're not - You both are half-ghosts."

"Whatever you want to call it. Ghost, undead, ghoul, zombie, vampire..." Vlad waved his hand, "The name doesn't matter because there is no name for what we are. Both Daniel and I were ripped back from the dead into the living under precise and unlikely circumstances. We both had fragments of us survive. There is always a part of us that remains in that world, just as there's always a part of us missing from this one. And, that world comes with its own set of rules. Rules that, until now, Daniel has refused to even acknowledge exist, because it would mean he would have to admit to himself that he has failed."

Sam took this moment to wipe some of the sweat off of her face that had gathered there, too afraid to say anything, to interrupt Vlad's tirade.

"He still refuses to accept that the undead part of him demands certain..." Vlad turned away from Sam and gently picked up the remains of the dead rose he had been pruning so diligently minutes before, he turned its browned petals around in his fingers with as his voice took on a sad edge, "Certain sacrifices."

Sam shivered at the word. Vlad turned to her, twirling the rose by the stem for a moment before palming it and crushing it in his hand until it was nothing but dust. He frowned severely, watching as the rose bits fell, destroyed, to the atrium floor.

"And until he can learn to embrace and control that part of him instead of ignore it, he will remain here with me, with those cuffs on."

* * *

_tbc..._

* * *

**A/N:** Whee thank you for all the reviews guys! :)


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